Octavian Voiculescu is concerned that the latest regulations of the Romanian National Ethics Council might be used retroactively, which would be unconstitutional (Nature 486, 34; 2012). As president of Romania's National Authority for Scientific Research that helped to introduce these regulations in 2011, I would like to stress that this is not the case: the regulations are not implemented retroactively.

The regulatory changes include a provision to terminate automatically the employment contracts of academics or researchers found guilty of “grave misconduct” — plagiarism, falsification of scientific data or false statements in grant applications.

The non-retroactive legal principle means that no misconduct committed before the legislation came into effect can be penalized on the basis of that legislation. This principle has been strictly observed under my administration.

It is incorrect to interpret the non-retroactive principle as meaning that sanctions cannot remove rights or privileges that were in operation before the legislation came into effect, with people losing their jobs only if they were appointed after 2011.

It is not the date of employment that matters, but the date on which the illegal action was undertaken: if the action was perpetrated before 2011, it cannot be sanctioned; if it happened afterwards, it can.