CEC supervision of the voter lists compilation

(amended by Law No. 74/2012, dated 19 July 2012; second sentence of point 2 amended; a sentence added after the first sentence of point 3; points 5 and 8 amended by Law No. 101/2020, dated 23 July 2020)

1. The CEC shall supervise the voter lists compilation process by requesting information from the General Directorate of Civil Status and local government units on the process for the establishment of the polling units and the number of voters for each voting centre, in compliance with the rules envisaged in this Code and the law on civil status.

2. No later than 30 days from the decree on the determination of the election date, the CEC shall appoint, by decision, two technical auditors to verify the transactions in the database of the NCSR. The right to appoint auditors shall rest on the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner. The technical auditors may not be discharged from duty except for infringements set out in point 9 of this Article. Substitute technical auditors shall be appointed no later than 5 days following the same procedures and criteria stipulated in this Article.

3. Technical auditors must have a university degree and expertise in the field of information technology or statistics, and shall be knowledgeable in the process of voter lists compilation and/or civil status. Technical audits shall be assisted by no more than 2 assistants, who are appointed by the CEC upon proposal of the auditor. Special rules on the terms of the contract and audit procedures shall be established by a CEC normative act.

4. Technical auditors shall inspect the compliance of the transactions performed by
the civil status offices and the General Directorate of Civil Status with the rules established in this Code, the law on civil status, and other legal acts issued for their purpose by the CEC and the minister responsible for the civil status service. Technical auditors shall also perform other duties determined in this Code and CEC acts.

5. Each technical auditor shall have access to the electronic system, database, and documentation of the NCSR and of civil status offices, to enable the reading and comparison of civil status components, their changes, time when transactions are made by system users or administrators, as well as any other reports generated by the electronic system, which trace all changes to the electoral components in the NCSR over the period under review, including the report generation methodology. The technical auditor shall have the right to obtain information or examine the register data that is used to allocate the mandates for electoral zones. The auditor’s access to the NCSR, in any case, shall be no less than the access of the Director General of the Civil Status Service.

6. Each auditor shall have the right to visit the General Directorate of Civil Status as many times as they deem it fit, but at least once a month. They may not make or order transactions in the NCSR database. The General Directorate of Civil Status officials shall be obliged to cooperate with the technical auditors and provide any information or explanation regarding what is requested by them for the purpose of their duty, including details on changes made in the NCSR and on persons who have either made or authorised them. The General Directorate of Civil Status shall be obliged to provide adequate working conditions for the auditors for them to be able to work independently.

7. Technical auditors shall submit a monthly report to the CEC on their findings in line with the duties assigned by the CEC or remarks or issues related to the enforcement of the legislation on the civil status register. Each technical auditor may submit an individual report if they have an opinion or comment that is different from that of the other auditor.

8. CEC shall convey the findings and recommendations of technical auditors to the General Directorate of Civil Status within 48 hours, at the same time asking relevant explanations. Audit reports and GDSC explanations shall be published by the CEC. The duty of technical auditors concerning the supervision of the voter list compilation shall be fulfilled with the submission of the final report on the voter list, following its announcement.

9. Technical auditors shall be obliged to treat the data learned or administered during the exercise of their duty, only for the purposes of reporting to the CEC and in compliance with the legislation on personal data protection. Technical auditors may not transfer data that may not be published, in accordance with the law, to third parties. A violation of this obligation shall be punishable under provisions of the legislation in force.