Laws and regulations governing the work of artists
a) Employment and working conditions:
- Government Ordinance n° 21/2007 regarding the concert and show performing institutions and companies and the development of the impresarios activity
- Labour Code (Law n° 53/2003) (general law)
- Labour collective agreement in the cultural field for 2007-2010

b) Social welfare (health insurance, occupational accidents, disability, unemployment and pensions):
- Law n° 109/2005
 on establishment of the financial indemnity for freelancer activity of performers from Romania
- Law n° 19/2000 on public pension system and on other social insurance rights (general law)
- Labour collective agreement in cultural field for 2007-2010

WORKING CONDITIONS

Work permit or “professional” status
There is not a professional sttus for artists. The access to the  cultural labour market is open without any work permit requirements. There is no specific professional status for workers in the cultural field.

Health care system
The health care system is regulated by Labour code and by the Law n° 19/2000.
There is a public health care and pension system organised on few levels: pension for age limit, pension for diseases situations, financial support for illness situations, financial support for parents who take care of their children up to 2 years old, and financial support for disabled persons.
The public health care system applies to all artists.

Private healthcare systems
There is a private health care scheme regulated by Law n° 411/2004 on pension funds being under private administration. This scheme is open to artists also.

Administrative inspections
The working conditions are subject to administrative inspections.
The inspections cover all the labour related aspects such as: working time, labour ergonomy and health, workers rights to holidays, fair treatment, gender equality, fair payment.
The inspections are carried out by the Labour Inspection, which is a governmental level body, under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour, Family and Equal Opportunities.
 
Penalties
The penalties may vary from administrative fine to closure of the establishment and penalties under criminal law.


SOCIAL WELFARE 
 
Insurance schemes
The public insurance scheme covers illness, maternity, disability, retirement etc. The compulsory private insurance scheme covers only retirement. There is also a specific retirement public scheme for freelancer artists.
The social coverage (both public and private schemes) is compulsory both for employed and freelance artists. The specific retirement public scheme for freelance artists is designed to support the artists who have contributed before to a public insurance scheme.

Complementary insurance schemes
Only employed artists are obliged to contribute to both insurance schemes (public and the compulsory private).
 
Administration of contributions
The contributions to the public scheme and related payments are administered by a public body at the governmental level. The contributions to the private retirement scheme are administered by private banks under the supervision of a public body at governmental level. Artists unions manage their own social schemes which are organised on a voluntary basis.
 

REMUNERATION

The minimum level of payment
Artists who are employed by public organizations are paid according a legal, compulsory system providing payment levels within minimum and maximum limits on a monthly basis. Freelancer artists and artists employed by private organizations may negotiate their payments.

The artists wages are paid directly. Authors and performers can also benefit from payments made through collective administration organizations for their reserved royalties according the copyright law.

UNEMPLOYMENT
 
Unemployment insurance scheme
The unemployment insurance scheme is general for all employees. The artists have the same rights as all the employees. The unemployment benefits duration vary from 6 months to 12 months. The employment benefit level is 75% from the gross minimum wage applied in economy, to which are added supplementary amounts of 3% to 10% from  the gross minimum wage applied in economy according the employer previous contribution period.
 
Administration of the unemployment insurance scheme
The national  unemployment insurance scheme is administered by the National Agency for Employment.


Source: Centre of Professional Training in Culture, 2008.