Offenses of forgery in private documents, forgery in official documents, or intellectual forgery in Romania

Forgery in Documents in Romania

The offenses of document forgery are incriminated by the provisions of Articles 320 – 323 of the Criminal Code. The scope of these legal provisions encompasses illicit conduct, committed through actions or inactions, that undermine trust in the authenticity and veracity of documents that produce legal consequences.

As also noted in specialized literature, we emphasize that a document in the sense of criminal law must meet three essential attributes: (i) the document must contain the materialization of a declaration of will or the certification of facts or actions that have legal relevance, (ii) the evidentiary value of the document – its ability to distort legal reality, (iii) the determined or determinable nature of the author.

Forgery of Official Documents in Romania

First of all, the legal provisions incriminate, through Article 320 of the Criminal Code, material forgery in official documents, which consists of (1) Falsification of an official document, by counterfeiting writing or signature or by altering it in any way, in a manner likely to produce legal consequences, is punishable by imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.

Furthermore, paragraph (2) states that the forgery provided in paragraph (1), committed by a public official in the exercise of their duties, is punishable by imprisonment from 1 to 5 years and the prohibition of certain rights. Likewise, paragraph (3) states that official documents include tickets, vouchers, or any other printed materials that produce legal consequences, and lastly, paragraph (4) mentions that an attempt is punishable.

The incriminating text considers official documents that originate from or belong to public officials (e.g., police officers, judges, etc.), as well as individuals assimilated to public officials (e.g., notaries, bailiffs, in certain cases, etc.).

Moreover, it is observed that the law also provides an aggravated form of the offense of forgery in documents, in cases where the act is committed by a public official in the exercise of their duties. For example, when an inspector from the Court of Auditors falsifies an official report of a violation issued against a public institution while performing their official duties.

Intellectual Forgery in Romania

Similarly, legal provisions also incriminate the offense of intellectual forgery, which specifically refers to falsifying an official document at the time of its drafting by a public official in the exercise of their duties, by certifying facts or circumstances that do not correspond to reality or by knowingly omitting to include data or circumstances. Likewise, even the attempt to commit intellectual forgery is incriminated.

The distinguishing element of this offense lies in the fact that only a public official can commit intellectual forgery, and individuals who do not hold this status are not subject to criminal liability. A classic example of intellectual forgery would be when a traffic police officer records in a violation report details that justify applying a less severe penalty to the offender, such as stating that the driver failed to signal when changing lanes instead of exceeding the speed limit by 60 km/h, which carries stricter penalties.

Similarly, the attempt to commit intellectual forgery is also incriminated.

Forgery in Private Documents in Romania

Along the same lines, it should not be overlooked that legal provisions also incriminate forgery in private documents, which occurs through falsification of a private document in any of the ways provided in Articles 320 or 321 of the Criminal Code if the perpetrator uses the falsified document or entrusts it to another person for use, in order to produce legal consequences. The penalty provided by law is imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years or a fine, and the attempt is punishable.

Regarding the offense of forgery in private documents, an essential aspect to note is that its commission can occur regardless of the nature of the document. More specifically, whether it involves drafting an invoice with false information or writing a contract between two parties, as long as the document is used or entrusted to another person for use to produce legal effects, the individual in question will be held criminally liable.

Regarding whether or not the conditions of the offense of forgery in private documents are met, judicial practice has raised various discussions in relation to cases where, in order to commit the offense of tax evasion under Article 9(c) of Law no. 241/2005, perpetrators also recorded false fiscal documents in the company’s accounting.

By Decision no. 21/2017 regarding the appeal in the interest of the law filed by the Prosecutor General of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, the appeal in the interest of the law was upheld, establishing that the act of recording in accounting documents or other legal documents expenses that do not have a real basis or recording other fictitious operations, using falsified invoices and receipts, in order to evade tax obligations, constitutes the offense of tax evasion as provided in Article 9(1)(c) of Law no. 241/2005 for preventing and combating tax evasion.

Use of Forged Documents in Romania

Finally, positive law incriminates the use of forged documents, an offense that consists of using an official or private document, knowing that it is forged, in order to produce legal consequences.

Essentially, the offense of using forged documents applies to situations where a falsified document is introduced into the civil circuit and produces legal consequences. Practically, the forged document involves an act of presenting or submitting it to a recipient, actions that materialize in the production of legal effects through its use.

Consult now a criminal lawyer in Romania from the Blaj Law team!