Romania has had legislation protecting public-sector whistleblowers since 2004. The present system, however, is largely the result of Law No. 361/2022, adopted to transpose Directive (EU) 2019/1937. The new law broadened the categories of people who may qualify for protection and introduced clearer rules on reporting channels, confidentiality, institutional follow-up and retaliation.

This module looks at both sides of the Romanian system: the protections established by law and the way reporting mechanisms are currently used in practice. It draws on public institutional information and on data collected by the Romanian Center for European Policies from ministries, county councils, municipalities and public universities.

The available evidence points to a system that is relatively well developed on paper, but still used unevenly across public administration.