Policy Context and Legal Framework

The Romanian government has dedicated a lot of effort in recent years to develop a legal framework favoring the development of the information society and eGovernment. This framework includes: the Law on Electronic Signature (2001); the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Interest (2001); the Law on the Protection of Persons concerning the Processing of Personal Data and the Free Circulation of Such Data (2001); the Law on Electronic Commerce (2002), the Law regarding the electronic payment of local taxes (2002), the Law on the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (2004) and the Ordinance concerning the award of public contracts, public works concession contracts and services concession contracts (2006). The construction of a national network linking all local and central government information systems is underway, and the introduction of an electronic identity card is being prepared. The Government is guided by a wider eReadiness policy, which aims to promote access to public services and information through information technology and Internet.

Romania was the first country in Europe to transpose the European Union regulatory framework for electronic communications into national legislation, between 2002 and 2003. Furthermore, the VPO is a major supporter in the stimulation process and increase of the IT&C contribution to the accomplishment of the EU objectives for the Knowledge-based Economy and the Information Society.

Implementation and Management Approach

The VPO is based on a software solution designed to sustain the infrastructure of state institutions to which the population has to make various payments. It facilitates online payment, through the bank card, of the debits to the state budget and local budgets.

The specific way in which the front end of the portal is developed makes it very visible for all the major search engines. This way the online payment facility attracts a big number of qualified traffic. The Portal is Search Engine friendly.

Technology solution

The project uses SSL and 3DSecure technologies from VISA and MasterCard. The Gateway has built-in several security modules and encryption methods such as H_MAC, RSA-SHA1, MD5, P_Sign calculation and four proprietary fraud detection algorithms and GeoIP detection modules.

The beneficiaries will use custom design API for transmitting information’s in a secure and encrypted way. The application will support various beneficiary’s scripts design in ASP-VB, ASP-JS, Java Script, Pearl, PHP, Dot Net and Cold Fusion.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - The experience gained by the experts involved in the development of the VPO extends to legal and technical procedures and it can be customized for any administration interested in incorporating in its system an online payment gateway for financial obligations.

Lesson 2 - The Virtual Payment Office is a very specific electronic payment platform given its technical and financial nature. It involves operations and requirements such as card processing, the validation process of personal data, the receipt of electronic confirmation, electronic signature to validate the confirmation and the synchronization of two public administration systems, the Bucharest town hall and the Police.

Lesson 3 - The VPO can be used for the online payment of taxes, fines and other financial obligations towards the Romanian state in a fast, transparent, efficient and safe way.