The Foundation for the Defence of Citizens Against State Abuses has been awarded a final decision against the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police (IGPR) in the case regarding drug tests used in road checks. The Bucharest Court of Appeal obliged the IGPR to communicate the public information requested by FACIAS regarding the accuracy of the drug tests currently used by the Romanian Police.
The final decision was pronounced in file no. 29596/3/2024 and confirms the right of the citizens to know all the information about the anti-drug devices used by the Romanian Police. A false positive result in drug testing can lead to the suspension of the right to drive, the initiation of a criminal case and serious damage to a person's reputation, before the result is rebutted by laboratory analysis.
The information requested by FACIAS concerns the Drager DrugTest 5000 devices, with which the Traffic Police is equipped. According to information received by FACIAS, the IGPR uses approximately 800 such devices, each costing almost 14,000 lei, which means over 2 million euros in costs for the devices alone, without including the costs of consumables and their maintenance.
The institution acknowledged that these tests only provide preliminary results, which must be confirmed by laboratory analysis, but did not provide data on their efficiency, error rate, technical validation, and foods that may induce the risk of false positive results.
With this final ruling, the Bucharest Court of Appeal confirms that the technical details of the equipment with which the state sanctions citizens cannot be hidden from the public. FACIAS requests the IGPR to urgently enforce the ruling and to fully communicate the information as established by the court of law. Transparency in this area is a minimum condition for protecting citizens against errors that may affect their rights, freedom of movement and reputation.