The Allocation of Gambling Licences, Radio Frequencies and CO2 Emission Permits in Romania

Abstract

The Romanian administrative law currently lacks the sophistication from other legal systems and the legal theory often lags behind the socio-economic developments in society. There is a limited discussion in our public law doctrine about public rights and about specific types of public rights, as described in the context of this book. Of course, public rights and authorizations are present in different laws and addressed by the doctrine but there is no coherent and unitary theory on this topic. The definition of authorization in the Romanian law implies that the applicant has the right to be granted the authorization once all the conditions laid down by the supporting legislation are met. There is a margin of discretion when assessing in concreto the fulfilment of certain requirements for authorization, but generally there is no discretion in granting the authorizations when the conditions are met. Almost no reference can be found for example with regard to grants or subsidies, which are funds that the administrative authority can award to private or public entities, under certain conditions. The public law literature often ignores the policy dimension of certain legal topics. The granting of public rights/authorizations cannot be completely separated from economic, social, moral and other policy objectives that the state aims to implement when regulating the legal regime of certain public rights. In conclusion, the public law doctrine on the topic of the allocation of public rights in Romania is of limited importance in the context of our research topic.