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Law No. 43 Of 21 January 2003 On The Financing Of The Activity Of Political Parties And Election Campaigns

Original Language Title:  LEGE nr. 43 din 21 ianuarie 2003 privind finanţarea activităţii partidelor politice şi a campaniilor electorale

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LEGE no. 43 43 of 21 January 2003 on financing the activity of political parties and electoral campaigns
ISSUER PARLIAMENT
Published in OFFICIAL MONITOR no. 54 54 of 30 January 2003



The Romanian Parliament adopts this law + Chapter 1 General provisions + Article 1 (1) The financing of political parties ' activity is carried out only under the law ((2) Ensuring the means of financing the activity of political parties must be the expression of the free, equal and sincere character of political competition. + Article 2 Political parties may hold movable and immovable property that is necessary to carry out specific activity. + Article 3 ((1) The sources of financing of the activity of a political party may be: a) contributions of party members; b) donations and related; c) income from own activities; d) subsidies from the state budget. (2) The operations of receipts and payments of political parties can be carried out through bank accounts, in lei and in foreign currency, opened with banks based in Romania, according to the law. (3) The incomes made from the activities provided in par. ((1) are exempt from taxes and duties. + Chapter 2 Private financing + Section 1 Levies + Article 4 (1) The amount of contributions, their distribution and use shall be determined by decisions of the political party, according to the statute. (. Total revenue from contributions shall be uncapped. (3) The amount of dues paid in one year by a party member may be up to 100 gross minimum basic salaries per country. The minimum gross basic salary per country taken as a reference is the one existing on 1 January of that year. + Section 2 Donations + Article 5 ((1) Donations received by a political party in a fiscal year may not exceed 0.025% of the state budget revenues for that year. (2) In the fiscal year in which elections are held the ceiling will be 0.050% of the revenues of the state budget for the year. ((3) Donations received from a natural person in a year may be up to 200 gross minimum basic salaries per country at the existing value on January 1 of that year. ((4) Donations received from a legal person in a year may be up to 500 basic gross basic salaries per country at the value of existence on January 1 of that year. have all debts to the state budget and the state social insurance budget. (5) The value of movable and immovable property donated to the party, as well as of the services provided to it shall be included in the amount of donations, capped ((1)-(4). (6) Upon receipt of the donation are mandatory the verification and registration of the donor identity. At the request of the donor, his identity may remain confidential, if the donation is within the limit of the annual amount of 10 gross minimum basic salaries per country. The total amount received by a political party as confidential donations cannot exceed 15% of the maximum subsidy granted from the state budget to a political party in that year. (7) All donations will be duly highlighted in the accounting documents, with the mention of the date on which they were made and of other information enabling the identification of the sources of funding. Donations in kind-of goods or services-will be reflected in the bookkeeping at the market value established under the law. (8) List of persons who have made in a year donations whose cumulative value exceeds 10 gross minimum basic salaries per country, as well as the total amount of confidential donations shall be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part III, until the date of 31 March of the following year. (9) The list of donors, as well as the accounting records of the party must contain at least the following elements: his name, as the case may be, the name, domicile or, as the case may be, the seat; the identity document series and the personal numerical code or, as the case may be, the unique registration code; the amount and manner of the donation and the date on which the donation was made. (10) It is forbidden to accept in any form, directly or indirectly, by political parties the donations of material goods or amounts of money or the provision of free services made with the obvious purpose of obtaining an economic or political advantage. + Article 6 (1) Political parties may not accept donations or services provided free of charge from an authority or public institution, from an autonomous direction, from a national company, a commercial company or a bank company with full capital or majority state; money donations from a trade union are also prohibited. The amounts thus received are confiscated and made income to the state budget. ((2) Donations from other states or organizations abroad, as well as from foreign natural and legal persons are prohibited. I am an exception to the provisions of this paragraph donations consisting of material goods necessary for political activity, but which are not electoral propaganda materials, received from international political organizations to which the respective political party is affiliated or from political parties or political parties in political collaboration relations. These donations are published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part III, until March 31 of the following year. (3) The donations provided in par. (2) are exempt from the payment of customs duties. + Section 3 Other sources of revenue + Article 7 Political parties cannot conduct business-specific activities. Except for: a) editing, making and disseminating publications or other propaganda materials and their own political culture; b) the organization of meetings and seminars on political, economic or social issues; c) cultural, sports and entertainment; d) internal services; e) renting of own premises for conferences and social-cultural actions; f) bank interest; g) alienation of assets from the patrimony, but only after at least 5 years from the registration in the patrimony + Article 8 If a party is associated, according to the law, with an non-political party, the financial contribution of the latter to the respective form of association whose member is cannot exceed in a year the value of 500 gross minimum wages on the economy, existing at the date of 1 January of that year. + Chapter 3 Public funding (government) Subsidies from the state budget + Article 9 (1) Political parties receive annual subsidies from the state budget, under the law. The subsidy is paid monthly to the account of each political party through the budget of the General Secretariat of the Government and is distinctly reflected in the accounting (2) The amount allocated annually to political parties may not be more than 0.04% of the revenues provided for in the state budget. (3) Political parties that at the beginning of the legislature have representatives in parliamentary groups, at least in a Chamber, receive a basic subsidy. The total basic subsidies account for a third of the budgetary subsidies allocated to political parties. (4) The political parties represented in the Parliament also receive a subsidy proportional to the number of mandates obtained. The amount due for a mandate is determined by dividing the remaining two-thirds of the subsidies from the state budget for political parties to the total number of parliamentarians. (5) The total subvention granted from the state budget to a political party, after these operations, cannot exceed 5 times the basic subsidy. (6) Political parties that do not have parliamentary seats, but have obtained no more than 1% below the electoral threshold, receive equal subsidies, which are established by dividing the unused amount, according to the provisions of par. (5), in the number of political parties concerned. The total amount given to non-parliamentary political parties cannot be higher than a basic subsidy. (7) Unused amounts after redistribution, according to the provisions of par. (6), shall be divided into parliamentary political parties proportional to the number of mandates. ((. The unused amounts at the end of the financial year shall be carried over to the following year. + Article 10 ((. Revenue from budgetary grants may have the following destinations: a) material expenses for the maintenance and operation of premises; b) personnel expenses; c) expenses for the press and propaganda; d) expenditure on the organisation of activities of a political nature; e) travel expenses in the country and abroad; f) expenses for telecommunications; g) expenses with delegations from abroad; h) investments in movable and immovable property necessary for the activity of the i) expenses for the electoral campaign. (2) The efficiency and appropriateness of these expenses shall be determined by the governing bodies of political parties, according to their statutes and legal provisions governing the use of public funds. + Article 11 (1) Local authorities shall ensure with priority spaces for the central and local headquarters of political parties, at their reasoned request. (2) The rental by the local authorities of premises for political parties ' premises follows the legal regime provided for the rental of premises intended for living. (3) Political parties are exempt from paying taxes on buildings for premises held in the property, except those bought at the inventory value. (4) The political parties that cease their activity as a result of self-dissolution, dissolution rendered by final judgments of the courts or otherwise provided by law are obliged to hand over to the local public authorities, in days, the premises they have held with lease agreement concluded with them. The premises held in the property will be transmitted under the law. (5) Within 60 days the Bucharest Court will communicate to the prefects the cessation of the activity of the political party, in order to take over the premises rented by the local public authorities, through the bailiffs. + Article 12 The payment of all expenses related to telecommunications, electricity and heat, gas, water, canal, etc. of a party falls under its exclusive task and is made at the rate of premises intended for living. + Chapter 4 Financing during electoral campaigns + Section 1 Subsidy from the state budget for the electoral campaign + Article 13 (1) By special law all parties participating in the electoral campaign may receive a subsidy from the state budget. The categories of expenses for the electoral campaign that can be financed from this subsidy shall be established by the law granting this subsidy. (2) Parties that did not obtain the electoral threshold for the election of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate or, in the local elections, did not obtain the electoral threshold will refund the subsidy received under the conditions of par. ((1), within two months from the date of publication of the final results of the elections in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I. (3) In the situation of parties that present themselves in elections being part of a political alliance, the subsidy provided in par. ((1) shall be granted to the + Section 2 Contributions for the electoral campaign + Article 14 Contributions received after the opening of the electoral campaign from natural or legal persons in the country, except for the subsidies provided in art. 13, may be used for the electoral campaign of a party only if, in advance, they are declared to the Court of Auditors by the financial trustee. + Article 15 It is forbidden to finance the electoral campaign, directly or indirectly, by foreign natural or legal persons. The amounts thus received are confiscated and made income to the state budget. + Article 16 It shall be prohibited to finance in any way the electoral campaign of a party, an alliance thereof or independent candidate by a public authority, public institution, autonomous direction, national company, commercial company or banking company with full capital or majority state or by a trade union or association or foundation. The amounts thus received are confiscated and made income to the state budget. + Section 3 Financial trustee + Article 17 (1) The receipt for the electoral campaign of subsidies from the state budget, donations or legates from natural or legal persons shall be made only through a financial trustee, designated for this purpose by the party leadership. (2) The financial trustee is obliged to keep the accounting records of financial operations for each constituency, in the case of elections for the Chamber of Deputies and for the Senate, respectively, as well as for each county and for every candidate for mayor, in the case of local elections. (3) The financial mandate shall be jointly and severally liable to the party that designated it by the legality of the financial operations carried out during the electoral campaign and by the observance of 14-16. (4) The financial trustee may be a natural person or a legal person. (5) A party may have several financial trustees, at central level, for branches or for candidates; in this case their powers will be delimited and a coordinating financial trustee will be appointed. (6) Several parties may not use the services of the same trustee. (7) The quality of financial trustee shall be acquired only after his official registration with the Court of Auditors and public knowledge. + Article 18 Art. 17 shall also apply to independent candidates. + Article 19 The expenses related to the organization and conduct of electoral operations shall be borne from the state budget or, as the case may be, from the local or county budgets, according to the provisions of + Article 20 ((1) Access to public radio and television services within the electoral campaign, as well as to the special places of electoral display shall be guaranteed and shall be ensured according to the provisions of the electoral laws. (2) Parties and political alliances, as well as independent candidates, are obliged to print on all electoral propaganda posters and materials the name of the party or alliance that edited them, the name of the economic agent who printed them and to declare to the Court of Auditors, by financial trustee, the number of printed electoral posters. + Section 4 Maximum expenditure limits + Article 21 (1) The maximum limit of the expenses that may be incurred by a political party in each electoral campaign shall be calculated by summing up the maximum amounts allowed for each candidate proposed for the elections. (2) The maximum allowed values for each candidate are determined according to the minimum gross basic salary per country existing on January 1 of the electoral year, as follows: a) 150 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for the position of deputy or senator; b) 20 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for county councillor or local councillor in the General Council of Bucharest Municipality; c) 15 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for the position of local councillor in the councils of the county seat municipalities and in the councils of the Bucharest municipality sectors; d) 10 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for the position of local councillor in the councils of municipalities and cities; e) 2 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for the position of local councillor in the communal councils; f) 10,000 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for general mayor of Bucharest; g) 2,000 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for mayor of a county seat; h) 500 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for mayor of a sector of Bucharest or of a municipality or city; i) 20 gross minimum basic salaries per country for each candidate for mayor of a commune. (3) The maximum limits of the expenses provided in par. (2) shall also apply to independent candidates. ((4) Upon validation, the party leadership, the county organization or, as the case may be, the independent candidate shall submit to the Court of Auditors a declaration on compliance with the ceilings provided in par. ((2). Amounts exceeding the ceilings provided in par. (2) are made income to the state budget. + Article 22 (1) The maximum limit of expenses that can be made by a party, political alliance or independent candidate in the electoral campaign for the election of the President of Romania is 25,000 gross minimum basic salaries per country. (2) The provisions of art. 13-20 13-20, of art. 21 21 para. ((4) and art. 25 25, 27 and 31 shall apply accordingly. (3) If the elections for the President of Romania take place at the same time as the elections for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the parties proposing a presidential candidate will nominate a special representative for the candidate's electoral campaign in question. (4) Parties that have not obtained at least 10% of the valid votes cast across the country for the candidate they have proposed, as well as the independent candidates found in the same situation will refund the subsidy from the budget within two years. months after the election campaign ended. + Article 23 When a candidate is proposed for several positions in an electoral campaign, the maximum limit of expenses that can be made is set at the highest value, according to art. 21 21 or 22, as appropriate. + Chapter 5 Control of funding of political parties and electoral campaigns + Article 24 (1) The Court of Auditors is the only public authority empowered to control compliance with the legal provisions on financing political parties. (2) Annual the Court of Auditors shall verify for each party compliance with the legal provisions on the constitution and expenditure of their funds. (3) The Court of Auditors shall keep a register of political parties, political alliances and independent candidates, in which all data relating to their financial activity to be declared to the Court of Auditors shall be passed, according to this law + Article 25 (1) Within 15 days from the publication of the election result, the financial trustee shall be obliged to submit to the Court of Auditors a detailed report of the electoral revenues and expenses for each party or independent candidate. The report shall be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part III. (2) The validation of the mandates of the declared candidates is conditional on the submission of the financial report provided in par. ((1). + Article 26 (1) In order to verify the legality of the receipts and payments made in the electoral campaign, the Court of Auditors may request any additional statements and documents that it considers necessary. ((. Within 30 days of the receipt of the report or, where applicable, the additional documents requested, the Court of Auditors, in the composition provided for in art. 56 56 of Law no. 94/1992 on the organisation and functioning of the Court of Auditors, as amended by Law no. 77/2002 , will rule on the correctness of electoral accounting records and the legality of payments made. If it is assessed that there are certain irregularities or violations of legal restrictions on electoral income and expenses, the Court of Auditors, in the same composition, may order the refund, in whole or in part, of the subsidy from the budget received by the party or independent candidate concerned. (3) The judgment delivered by the Court of Auditors, according to para. (2), can be appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice, under the law. + Chapter 6 Sanctions + Article 27 (1) It constitutes contraventions and is sanctioned with a fine of 30,000,000 lei to 300,000,000 lei the following facts: a) non-publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part III, of the donations received, according to art. 5 5 para. (8), as well as the donations received according to art. 6 6 para. ((2) the second sentence, until 31 March of the following year; b) the receipt of subsidies for the electoral campaign other than through a financial trustee or the violation by him of his obligations according to the provisions of this law; c) acceptance of contributions or donations in violation of the provisions of art. 4 4 para. (3), of art. 5 5 or 6; d) accepting or making donations or free services made with the obvious purpose of obtaining an economic or political advantage; e) non-registration of amounts or goods entered with any title in the party's patrimony; f) failure to submit the electoral financial report and the supporting documents to the Court of Auditors within the deadline; g) printing or distribution of publications, electoral posters or other propaganda materials, in violation of the provisions of art. 20 20 para. ((2); h) subsidizing the electoral campaign, directly or indirectly, by natural or legal persons abroad; i) subsidizing in any way the electoral campaign by a public authority, public institution, autonomous direction, national company or company with majority or full state capital; j) non-refund of the subsidy from the state budget in the situation and within the deadline provided in art. 13 13 para. ((2); k) not declaring the amounts, goods or services received by the party, according to art. 14 14; l) obtaining material support for the party's activity through ways other than those provided for by this law. (2) The sanctions may apply, as the case may be, either to the financial trustee or to the political party or to the donor who violated the above-mentioned legal provisions. + Article 28 (1) In the situations provided in art. 27 27 para. ((1) lit. b), c), d), e), h), i), k) and l), the amounts of money or goods that were the object of the contravention will be made income to the state budget, based on the decision of the Judicial College of the Court of Accounts. (2) In the same way will be made income to the state budget donations accepted by a party being dissolved or by a party acting on the basis of the amended statute, although the amendments were not communicated to the Bucharest Tribunal, according to legal provisions, or the court rejected the application for consent to the amendment of the statute. + Article 29 It also constitutes contravention non-compliance with the legal limits of the electoral expenses provided for in art. 22 22 and shall be sanctioned with a fine, which may not be less than the half of the excess amount and greater than its triple. + Article 30 The contraventions provided in art. 27 and 29 shall be found by the financial controllers of the Court of Auditors, and the penalties shall be judged and determined by the Judicial College of the Court of Auditors. + Article 31 (1) If, by final court decision, one or more of a party's declared elected candidates have been convicted of a crime in connection with the party's funding or, as the case may be, the election campaign, they become incompatible, for a fixed duration, by decision of the Parliament or, as the case may be, of the county or local council. Seats of deputies, senators or councillors turned vacant will be filled by the alternates on that party's list. (2) Provisions of para. (1) shall also apply to independent candidates, the place which has become vacant in this case to be occupied by the alternate on the party list or the electoral alliance that has obtained the highest number of valid votes cast. + Article 32 Through the regulations of the Houses of Parliament, as well as through the regulations of the county and local councils, the procedure for the application of the measures provided 31. + Chapter 7 Final provisions + Article 33 The provisions of this law shall also apply to the organizations of citizens belonging to a national minority. + Article 34 The date of entry into force of this Law shall be repealed: --head. VI-Finances of political parties, respectively art. 32-45 of the Law on Political Parties no. 27/1996 , with subsequent amendments and completions; --art. 45 45 and art. 72 lit. m) of Law no. 68/1992 for the election of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, as amended and supplemented - art. 28 28 para. ((2) and (3) of Law no. 69/1992 For the election of the President of Romania, --art. 56 56 and art. 85 lit. m) of Law no. 70/1991 on local elections, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, as well as any other provisions contrary to this law. + Article 35 This law shall enter into force within 30 days of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I. This law was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate in the joint meeting of 19 December 2002, in compliance with the provisions of art. 74 74 para. ((1) and of art. 76 76 para. (2) of the Romanian Constitution. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES PRESIDENT VALER DORNEANU SENATE PRESIDENT NICOLAE VACAROIU Bucharest, January 21, 2003. No. 43. ----------------