The Romanian Parliament has passed a law on bad smells, which means that there will finally be a legal framework within which to take action against citizens and businesses that allow offensive smells to escape from their premises.
The law’s initiator is a Temesvár/Timișoara-based woman, Rodica Militaru. She is a teacher at the Polytechnic University of Timisoara (Universitatea Politehnica Timisoara), president of the Residential Owners Association, and USR’s (Save Romania Union political party) candidate for the Temesvár Local Council.
After seeing her foul-smells law approved unanimously in the Deputy’s Chamber, Militaru burst into tears and channeled her emotions in a Facebook post. “I cried a bit today with joy because a must-have law – the foul-smells bill – in a field that has not been regulated until now in our country by normative acts has passed today,” she wrote, adding that the initiative’s road had been long and rocky because it came from a political party in the opposition.
If the law is signed by President Iohannis, it will become the legal basis on which citizens and institutions will be able to take action against firms, farms, polluting industries and even neighbors who permit bad smells to escape from their properties. The ball is now in Iohannis’ court.
Title image: Bad smell. Image source: The Australian
