The Chamber of Deputies adopted on Tuesday a draft law stipulating that anonymous petitions will be taken into consideration if they refer to cases of sexual harassment or moral harassment.

A total of 253 votes in favour were registered.

The draft law amends Article 7 of the Government Ordinance no. 27/2002 regarding the regulation of the petition handling process.

According to Article 7 of the Emergency Ordinance, anonymous petitions or those that do not include the petitioner’s identifying information are not taken into consideration and are classified.

The adopted draft law introduces an exception to this provision, stating that anonymous petitions will be considered if they refer to cases of sexual harassment or moral harassment.

Petitions concerning these issues will be analysed by the responsible person or, where applicable, by the Commission for Receiving and Resolving Harassment Cases, in accordance with the methodology for preventing and combating sexual harassment and moral harassment, approved by government decision, the normative act stipulates.

If, after analysing the petitions in these cases, it is found that „the elements of a crime under criminal law, such as sexual harassment, sexual assault, or the abusive use of a position for sexual purposes, could be present,” the responsible person or, where applicable, the president of the Commission for Receiving and Resolving Harassment Cases is obliged to immediately refer the case to the criminal investigation authorities, in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 135/2010 on the Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended and supplemented, the adopted draft further specifies.

The Chamber of Deputies is the decision-making body.

AGERPRES