Cultural Attitudes To Whistleblowing: Romania

Historically Romania treated whistleblowing with suspicion, but imminent legislative changes may mean this starts to evolve.

The concept of whistleblower protection is not new to the Romanian legal and social framework, being developed, at least at a general public sector level, by legislation dating back to 2004. The already-existing legislation in this field was implemented in the context of preparing Romania's accession to the EU. The purpose of having a whistleblowing framework in the public field was to optimise public administration and maintain a professional environment, as well as involve personnel in the fight against corruption.

This legislation defined a whistleblower as a person who is employed in one of the public authorities or institutions (broadly defined) making a report in good faith concerning any fact involving a breach of law, professional ethics, principles of good administration, economic efficiency, effectiveness and transparency.