The Asociatia pentru Pensiile Administrate Privat din Romania (APAPR) has warned that a proposed amendment to pension law will exclude nearly a million workers from the country’s pillar II private pension system.

In a statement, APAPR stated that the legislative amendment in the draft of the new pension legislation would exclude almost a million self-employed workers, civil servants and managers employed with mandate contracts.

It noted that this new exclusion from pillar II would add to the one million employees unable to access pillar II with future contributions until 2028, including those in the construction, agriculture and food industries.

In Article 35 of the new draft pension law, the provision currently in force is proposed to be replaced by a provision that maintains only employees in the system, not those who are self-employed or have mandate contracts.

APAPR stated that while the change seems minor, the replacement of an ‘or’ for an ‘and’, it would produce “dramatic effects” for almost a million Romanians and the pillar II system.

The proposed change is present in paragraph two, which refers to the contributions transferred to pillar II, but not paragraph one, which refers to the contributions transferred to the public pension budget.

The proposed change would see contributions be eligible for those who have the status of an employee and for whom there is an obligation to pay the social insurance contribution due to the public pension system, replacing ‘or’ for whom there is an obligation to pay the social insurance contribution with 'and'.

“APAPR makes a public appeal to the Ministry of Labour, the government and the parliament of Romania to maintain in the draft law on pensions the provision that is currently in force (Art. 39 paragraph (2) of Law 263/2010), without affecting the right of Romanians to contribute to pillar II of private pensions, with excellent results in the first 15 years of operation,” APAPR stated.

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