The Romanian government approved a bill Wednesday setting personal data is to be collected for prepaid card users, making prepaid cards traceable. The bill will take effect when the Parliament adopts it and existing prepaid users will then have six months to register their ID with operators.
The change in legislation was required by the country’s highest defense body, CSAT, in August 2012, following a terrorist attack in neighboring Bulgaria. Human rights organization APADOR-CH called on the government at that time to consider the country’s commitments to international human rights treaties and not just national security needs.