The Importance of Ethics Commissions in Light of the New Regulations of the Romanian National Education Law

Abstract

In the last period, we witness numerous slippages from good conduct in scientific research, manifested at the level of state or even private higher education institutions and, thus, it is necessary to create some protection mechanisms, but also some bodies, be it institutions or ethics commissions that can ascertain and apply sanctions. While in the past, the ethics commissions established at the level of each university operated on the basis of law no. 1/2011, currently they are the prerogative of the new national education law no. 199/2023, but also of university documents, as the case may be, the University Charter, the Code of Ethics and, last but not least, the own Regulations. The law of national education expressly provides what are the attributions of the ethics commission, and, at the same time, defines its composition, but also the cases of incompatibility. In case of deviations from good conduct in scientific research, the ethics committee can act either ex officio or based on a notification from a natural or legal person.