VIDEO The problem of the electronic legal record: While the MAI claims that if you print it it no longer has legal value, Ioana Dogioiu says that it was accepted as such by the Government

The spokeswoman for the Government, Ioana Dogioiu, said on Thursday that when she was employed at the Victoria Palace, she needed the criminal record, which she obtained in about two minutes from the IT services HUB of the Ministry of the Interior (MAI). She said she brought it printed and did the same for her daughter's driver's license. After HotNews.ro pointed out to her that the MAI says that the printed document has no legal value and does not accept it like that at the counters, she said: “I don't know, it must have been me… I don't know what to answer you, because I don't have a statistic about it.”

She made these clarifications at the end of the Government meeting in which the way in which railway transport operators can identify the place of residence on the new electronic identity cards, the so-called chip bulletins, presented by students to obtain the discount on train transport, was regulated.

The problem is that the home address, required for the discount, is no longer displayed on the new electronic identity cards, but is stored on the chip, and there are no electronic readers at the counters to verify the information.

VIDEO (from min. 44:28) Ioana Dogioiu's explanations:

“I took this printed record and it was accepted without any problems”

Ioana Dogioiu said that one of the solutions is to obtain proof of residence from the IT service HUB of the MAI, where the electronic criminal record can also be obtained.

“I got the criminal record in two minutes,” she said.

HotNews.ro asked her how she used this electronic legal record.

“When I came to the government, I needed, including for the whole procedure, that's how I needed the criminal record,” said Dogioiu.

After HotNews.ro pointed out to him that people complain that the electronic document is not accepted at the counters of the Directorate of Car Permits in Bucharest, for example, the government official said that he did not have this problem when obtaining the car license for his daughter, but “not in Bucharest”.

“You should know that I brought this record, not for myself, that I have been driving for many years, but for my daughter I brought this record and it was accepted, without problems, printed”, said Ioana Dogioiu.

The HotNews.ro reporter insisted on the fact that the Ministry of the Interior recently communicated that in printed format this electronic document loses its legal value, not being accepted at the counters like that.

“I don't know, maybe it was me… I don't know how to answer that, because I don't have a statistic about it,” the Government spokeswoman also declared.

“Print has no legal value”

Several citizens of Bucharest have complained that the officials at the counters of the Driving License and Vehicle Registration Regime Directorate (DRPCIV) refuse to accept criminal record certificates issued in electronic format.

The situation is signaled in a document sent to the MAI by PNL deputy Sebastian Burduja, former Minister of Digitization, in whose mandate the online release of the record was implemented.

The MAI replied to the deputy that steps are being taken so that the license and registration services automatically extract their criminal record extracts from the ROCRIS database, without asking for them at the counter.

DRPCIV also specified for HotNews.ro that “it does not require the presentation of the criminal record certificate when submitting applications for specific operations to obtain a driving license”.

DRPCIV checks the record directly at the counter

The department also emphasized that “the verification of the person's legal situation is carried out directly at the counter”, by officials, based on the consent expressed by the applicant.

In other words, people are made to fill out another sheet in which they give their consent for the MAI official to generate their criminal record on the spot.

DRPCIV admitted that it does not recognize the criminal record obtained from the MAI service HUB in the printed version and presented at the counter, as the document “should be sent electronically, sent to an official e-mail address”, without giving any other details.

HotNews went to the directorate's headquarters in Bucharest and spoke with several citizens, most of whom stated that they came with the records physically lifted from the police station.

The representatives of the department explained that there is no problem of not recognizing it, however, in printed format it loses its quality as a document with a digital signature.

“Print has no legal value. That doesn't mean we don't take them into account or consider them illegal”, Marius Petrache, the head of the Public Relations service within the directorate, explained to HotNews.