The persons will be obliged to carry IDs, or copies thereof, while in public places. Presentation of the 13-digit personal code from the identity card is also accepted. Representatives of the police said such measures are introduced in order to facilitate the identification of persons when these commit contraventions and are not aimed at intimidating the citizens or at checking documents en masse, IPN reports.

“This is a rather sensitive issue and we apologize for probably being not very explicit in our intentions. I think a kind of discomfort was created in society. We apologize and make it clear that the goal is not to make the citizens always carry IDs and it’s not true that filters will be set up to see if a person has an identification paper or not,” Viorel Cernăuțeanu, head of the General Police Inspectorate’s Legal Division, stated in public debates.

He noted that during almost two years since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the citizens have showed to be disciplined. There were few cases when a person didn’t have identification papers on him/her. If a contravention is committed and the person cannot be identified, this is escorted to the police station.

Viorel Cernăuțeanu expressed his confidence that the responsible authorities in time will create conditions for designing a digital passport and carrying IDs will no longer be mandatory.

All the citizens, except minors, during the ongoing public health emergency are obliged to have IDs, or copies thereof, in all public places, either open or enclosed, including on public transport. This was decreed by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission in October.