United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

For years, there have been attempts to reduce the number of people who do not have a valid ID, but this work has been hampered by the lack of the necessary infrastructure and by the impossibility of movement throughout some areas of Cluj County.
According to the analysis of the situation regarding the person records within Cluj County, the following problems have been identified:
- the lack of data (the real number of people without identity documents, special needs, etc..)
- the increased number of people without identity documents
- the existence of a large number of Roma citizens who do not have identity documents or civil status certificates;
- the large number of unregistered Roma citizens, especially children.
Before the application of the Virtual Private Network (VPN) it was necessary for every Head of the Local Community Public Services For Person Records to go to Cluj County Office for Person Records and Database Management, bring the documents required to complete IDs on external devices, go back again after a few days and get the issued identity cards to be handled to the applicants at the Local Community Public Service For Person Records. This work of issuing IDs consumed a long time and many resources both human and financial.
The advantage of the Virtual Private Network (VPN) is the on-line transmission of data necessary for the production of identity documents; it requires only a shift of the Head of the Local Community Public Services for Person Records to raise them, or their dispatch by the secured mail. Before the application of the Virtual Private Network (VPN), the information in the National Registry for Persons was updated in a few days, but now the new application has managed to ensure a safe and efficient on-line communication of the required information which is daily updated.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Under the provisions of the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 97/2005 approved by Law no. 290/2005 - on records, domicile, residence and identity documents of the Romanian citizens, with subsequent amendments, citizens are required to identify themselves with an ID on the territory of Romania. The ID is the document issued to the Romanian citizens to prove identity, nationality and residence, necessary to exploit the rights and obligations under the Constitution and other legal acts. The ID is also a travel document. Since April 2006, a series of legislative measures on the Government strategy has been adopted to improve the situation of Roma citizens. The solution offered by the VPN is a secure and efficient transmission of data. By its nature, VPN must deal and cope with all kind of security threats, providing also security services in the field of the authentication (the access control). In order to implement the legality of people without IDs, the following objective has been established: improving the strategy of informing people about the way one can obtain an ID.To achieve this objective it was necessary to inform the target group, develop a local communication network and also to ensure a close collaboration with the County Office for Person Records and Database Management and with the Local Community Public Services for Person Records. At the beginning of each year, a graphic is drawn up referring to “The Actions on the Legality of People without Identity Documents or Possessing Expired or Damaged Documents, etc”. Our Directorate constantly informs citizens about their responsibility to go to the Local Community Public Services for Person Records or to our institution to hand in an ID application, especially those who are to be fourteen years old or those who do not possess a valid ID.In the interests of citizens, workers from our Directorate move with the mobile station to take images and receive documents to issue civil status certificates and IDs. The Institution of Cluj County Prefect held a monthly meeting of the “Joint Working Group of the County”, attended by one representative of our Directorate and other institutions dealing with Roma problems, Roma representatives from Cluj Local Office – the National Agency for Roma, Ramses Foundation, Roma Party. They discussed issues regarding the ways Roma citizens can obtain civil status certificates and IDs. The performance appraisal within the organization aims at a proper identification of the citizens’ needs. As a consequence of the ISO Certification 9001/2008, for a better assessment of our organization concerning the quality of the services and a better future response to the requests of the citizens, the leadership of our Directorate posted customer satisfaction questionnaires – both on the institution website and within the public relation offices. The implementation of the ISO Certification 9001/2008 aimed at reducing internal costs and non-quality services, increasing the citizens’ satisfaction, through the improvement of the public services provided, increasing the transparency and the efficiency of the organization, etc.. The Directorate is among the first similar institutions in the country that has been certified ISO.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Cluj County Directorate for Person Records initiated the idea of a data communication infrastructure between all Public Services for Person Records in the county and the Voice Data Communication Network of the Ministry of Administration and Interior (MAI). The new operating model of the National Information System of Population Records was implemented and first tested in the country for three months (according to the approval of the Ministry). As a consequence of the evaluation of this pilot project, the Ministry approved the running of the new application on two levels (county and central), in the county of Cluj. Because the necessary technical conditions for the RJEP.EXE application testing were fulfilled, Cluj County was chosen to test the pilot project regarding the on-line updating of the National and the Local Register for Person Records via the RJEP.EXE application. The test lasted three months, until the end of September 2007. The following institutions participated in the test: Cluj County Directorate for Person Records, Cluj County Office for Person Records and Database Management and all the local Community Public Services for Person Records in the county (Cluj-Napoca, Dej, Campia-Turzii, Gherla, Huedin, Turda). Such an infrastructure offered Cluj County Directorate for Person Records the possibility to issue identity cards. Thus, since January 14th 2010, the activity of issuing identity documents facilitates, in accordance with the Law, the legality of the people who present challenging situations such as being either non-transportable or hospitalized in social care units or living far away from the Local Community Public Services For Person Records. In 2008, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records conducted the Phare project “Modernizing the Person Record Activities in Cluj County” (contract RO2006/018-147.01.03.02.03 CJ 084) in partnership with Cluj County Council. The project resulted in acquiring a mobile station to move in territory, take images and the documentation necessary for the implementation of the legality of people not having financial possibilities or health conditions to move to the Public Services to submit an ID application. Since the purchase of the mobile station and according to the graphic of “The Implementation of the Legality of People Without Identity Cards or Possessing Expired or Damaged Documents, etc”, professionals from Cluj County Directorate for Person Records, regularly move in territory to take images and retrieve the necessary documentation to issue identity documents. Before each action, the representatives of the Directorate contact the mayors and the police station workers of the villages where the action operates, to determine the place where the documents and images will be taken for the issuing of IDs. About a week before, the local authorities inform citizens about such actions.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Cluj County Directorate for Person Records in collaboration with Cluj County Office for Person Records and Database Management decided (since 2006) to create a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to facilitate the connection between the existing Local Community Public Services for Person Records in Cluj County, with the possibility of extension to other Local Community Public Services. Since March 2007 the Virtual Private Network (VPN) runs in good condition, Cluj County being chosen for testing the pilot project of the on-line updating of both the National and the Local Register of Person Records. The progress of the pilot project aiming at modernizing the National Information System of Population Records (SNIEP) (through the Virtual Private Network (VPN) and the infrastructure for communication between Cluj County Directorate for Person Records and the Local Community Public Services For Person Records in the county) gave our institution the possibility, since January 14th 2010, to release identity cards for the residents of the county. The project task was to test and analyze the performance of the computer applications, solve some challenging cases, as well as support non-transportable citizens or those hospitalized in social care institutions or who live far away from the Local Community Public Services for Person Records, to obtain legal documents. The main objective of the proposed actions carried out by professionals of Cluj County Directorate for Person Records was to reduce the number of people not possessing valid documents, identify citizens with no civil status certificates or identity documents and support people of this social category to obtain such documents. Another objective of this action aims at implementing the legality of Roma communities from this point of view.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
With the integration of Romania into the European Union, a valid identity card is also a travel document within the states of the European Community, which resulted in a significant increase in number of the ID applications at the Community Public Services for Person Records. Consequently, the modernizing and improving of both the integrated communication system created in 2000 and also the working methodology regarding the activities for person records became a fundamental priority. The application of the Virtual Private Network aims at creating a secure connection among the Community Public Services for Person Records in Cluj County, and also developing the activities of person records with regard to the integrated communication system and the working methodology. The Virtual Private Network technology (VPN) aims at a secure data transmission throughout the entire common infrastructure, either by encapsulation or encryption, or by both methods (first, the useful information is encapsulated, secondly, it is encrypted). Thus, personal data from the National Registry for Person Records and the information that flows through the Virtual Private Network are protected by various security technologies (encryption, authentication). Cluj County Directorate for Person Records in collaboration with Cluj County Office for Person Records and Database Management decided to create a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to facilitate the connection between the existing Local Community Public Services for Person Records in Cluj County. Because, at national level, there are many companies offering communicating solutions in the field of modern data transmission, they tried to ensure that this Virtual Private Network should meet the characteristics of an effective implementation, namely: data privacy, data integrity, non-repudiation of the message sender and the authentication of the message. According to the above mentioned the Virtual Private Network runs since March 2007. Due to the fact that a four month implementation of the network did not reveal major incidents to jeopardize or hinder the specific activity of the Public Services for Person Records connected to this network, they started since July 2007, the installation and the checkout of the access rights to the modules, and the testing of the RJEP.EXE application functions. The implementation of the Virtual Private Network and because the necessary technical conditions for the RJEP.EXE application testing were fulfilled, Cluj County was chosen to test the pilot project regarding the on-line updating of both the National and the Local Register for Person Records, via the RJEP.EXE application. The testing period lasted three months until September 2007. Every year, in January, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records elaborates the so-called “Cluj County Measure Plan for Issuing Civil Status and Identity Documents for Roma communities”. Cluj County Directorate for Person Records and the institutions involved in identifying solutions for Roma citizens, such as Cluj County Council, Cluj County Prefecture and the municipalities within the county consider together the stage of the legal status of this category of people, in what concerns their civil status and identity documents, establishing thus measures of implementing legality, in this respect.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
In past years, civil status and person record activities were hampered by the existing legislative vacuum in this respect. The mobile station actions revealed that the lack of valid identity documents was caused either by the absence of the birth certificates or by the failure of records in the Civil Status registers. It was also noticed that if parents did not have an ID or possessed expired documents, there was a great chance for their descendants not to possess an identity card, either. The descendants’ chances of socialization were diminished, because they did not gain food, education or promoting opportunities in the social hierarchy. The most common obstacle encountered by the professionals of the Community Public Services for Person Records, was the lack of a housing document, in particular of those who live with rent and no legal forms, or of those who live either abusively or in poor conditions- representing thus a category of people who can only get temporary identity cards. The main institutional obstacles that generally hindered the activities of implementing the legality of the citizens, were the following: the lack of funds in the local budgets to support the equivalent cost of issuing identity cards for the citizens deprived of material resources; requests of moving to the area of the last legal domicile of the parents for the first issuing of an identity card for minors, (which is the situation of those families who could not prove the new address, their identity documents still having entered the previous domicile); requests of moving to areas of the birth place for the issuing of birth certificates; the lack of involvement of the local public authorities; the neglect in possessing identity documents. Temporary ID cards do not represent a solution for the general legality problems, due to the labor market discrimination on the holders of these documents and to their need for frequent renewal. Also, the holder of such a document is considered suspicious by the public authorities in the service sector.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
In collaboration with Cluj County Council, acting as the applicant, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records, as the beneficiary, participated in the drafting and implementation of the Phare project - “Modernizing the Person Record Activities in Cluj County” – in order to access some Phare funds within “Modernization Fund for Local Administration Development” with the reference number RO2006/018-147.01.03.02.03 CJ 084. We mention that the project was approved for all proposals. And the total value of the project was € 100,295. Thus, in December 2008 the institution acquired the mobile station (car, VW Touareg), for moving in territory to take images and documents for the legality of those people who do not have financial possibilities or health conditions to move to the premises of the Community Public Services for Person Records and apply for an ID. At Cluj county level, they tried to find a method of allocating funds from both the County and the Local Council budgets to cover the value of temporary identity cards for Roma citizens. Thus, Cluj County Council Decision no. 166/31.08.2009 corrected the budget of Cluj County Directorate for Person Records, with the sum of 2,000 lei - designed to ensure the issuance of identity cards, temporary identity cards and civil status documents for Roma citizens. In 2006, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records drafted an action plan containing terms, opportunities, prior activities, agreements and technical solutions to achieve the maximum parameter application of the Virtual Private Network (VPN), and in February 2007, our institution held an auction for awarding the achievement of the Virtual Private Network (VPN), and Romtelecom SA was awarded the contract. The funding sources of the contract were provided by Cluj County Council’s budgets - to Cluj County Directorate for Person Records and the budgets of the town halls of Cluj-Napoca, Câmpia Turzii, Dej, Gherla Huedin and Turda – to the Local Community Public Services for Person Records. For a better development of the population and housing census held in 2011, at national level, the representative of Cluj County Directorate for Person Records and the Heads of the Local Community Public Services for Person Records within Cluj County, participated in November 2010 in a meeting held at the request of the Prefect Institution of Cluj, on setting measures and clarify issues regarding the legality of Roma citizens in the county of Cluj.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) enables fast and efficient communication between Local Community Public Services for Person Records within the county, ensuring also the security of data transmission. The RJEP.EXE application reduced the time required to issue identity documents, achieved a real-time updating of the central database for person records and conducted to an efficient public service delivery towards citizens. The new updating system offered Cluj County Directorate for Person Records the possibility to issue identity documents to citizens residing in the county. The testing, at county level, both of the Virtual Private Network (VPN) as well as of the RJEP.EXE computer application revealed that technically (hardware and software) it was possible to move to a next stage (that of the online updating of the county database), removing thus the stage of updating the local database. Moreover, on the basis of the argument of necessity (the nationwide extension) the Ministry of Administration and Interior, transmitted via the Directorate for Person Records and Databases Management (formerly the National Inspectorate for Person Records), several radiograms suggesting the implementation of this kind of communication system. In the following period, the project expanded nationwide as the Virtual Private Network (VPN) was implemented in other counties, too. For best results, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records keeps in touch with all the stakeholders dealing with Roma citizens, both within the County Council of Cluj, Cluj County Prefecture and the municipalities within the county, considering together the stage of the legal status of these categories of persons, in what concerns civil status and identity documents, and how to handle these situations, such as: setting measures to increase accountability with regard to the reference field and to the decision factors within the Community Public Services for Person Records; at county level, professionals in the field contact the County Councilors dealing with Roma issues, analyze together the stage of the legal status of Roma citizens and set concrete measures to lead to the achievement of this aim; County Community Public Services for Person Records ask Roma representatives from the County Offices for Roma, to transmit information on the persons without civil status certificates / identity documents so that very good informational prerequisites could be created in order to carry out specific actions in this respect; Roma representatives are informed about the procedures of entering the Civil Status Registries or applying for identity documents, especially for the people with disabilities and those without income who are granted exemption from the ID production and release costs, etc.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The Virtual Private Network (VPN) offered us the opportunity to update the National Register for Person Records on-line and to issue identity cards in accordance with the Law. For best results, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records through regular media briefings and press releases tries to intensify the implementation of the legality of persons lacking identity documents or possessing not valid or damaged documents, etc. The modernization of the institutional communication process through the introduction of the information technology resulted in an improvement in efficiency of the activities developed by Cluj County Directorate for Person Records, debureaucratization and an increase of the public service quality towards citizens. Since the first identity card released, on the 14th of January 2010, Cluj County Directorate for Person Records has issued 5079 identity cards so far, as an answer to the applications handed to our institution. Please note that the effects of the technical solution operated are of major importance in what concerns the benefits offered to the state institutions and not only, by accessing the information of the National Registry for Person Records updated through the online system and reflecting the present reality of the population movement. The mobile station actions, in areas where there are citizens without identity documents, are drafted according to a well prepared plan of actions and to the schedule for travel. Before each operation, the professionals of our institution contact the representatives of the police stations and the mayors of the communes, to determine the time and the location of the action of taking images and pick the documents for issuing IDs. Subsequently, the local authorities release this information to the citizens. Following these steps, professionals from Cluj County Directorate for Person Records may take over a large number of acts, in an attempt to meet the needs of all citizens. Since the mobile station purchase, professionals from Cluj County Directorate for Person Records move in territory to take images and pick the required documentation for the issuance of identity documents. Please note that these formal legal actions were conducted by means of the mobile station acquired under the PHARE project “Modernizing the Person Record Activities in Cluj County”. The main purpose was to legalize the status of the Roma citizens and of those whose health and financial conditions do not allow going to the Local Community Public Services for Person Records to obtain identity documents, as well as of the young people aged 14 who have not requested the release of the identity card in due time.


Institution Name:		Cluj County Directorate for Person Records
Institution Type:		Public Organization
Contact Person:		Viorel Sirca
Title:		Executive Director
Telephone/ Fax:		0040264450406
Institution's / Project's Website:		www.djepcluj.ro
E-mail:		djepcluj@mail.rdscj.ro
Address:		7-9 Aviator Badescu Street, Cluj-Napoca, Cluj, Romania
Postal Code:		400196
City:		Cluj-Napoca
State/Province:		Cluj
Country:		Romania

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information