Senate passes Code of Civil Procedure

The Senate of Romania approved changes on one-fifth of the provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure.

Bogdan Matei, 30.05.2018, 13:04

For nearly one
and a half years, the persistence with which the governmental coalition made up
of the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats has
been seeking to change the criminal codes and the justice laws has been
strongly criticised by the rightist Opposition, civil society and the media as
an attempt to obstruct anti-corruption efforts and to overpower magistrates.

In contrast, the
civil codes have triggered far less controversy. On Tuesday, the Senate, as a
first-instance parliamentary chamber, endorsed a new Code of Civil Procedure,
after the document was passed last week by the special parliamentary committee
on the justice laws. The committee chairman, the former Social Democratic
justice minister Florin Iordache, said that, in light of rulings by the
Constitutional Court and the suggestions made by the Higher Council of
Magistracy, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the High Court of cassation and
justice and magistrate associations, as many as 110 articles have been amended,
accounting for one-fifth of the entire Code.

The committee
says the changes may turn the judiciary into an environment that citizens
perceive as less hostile than before. For instance, civil lawsuits will be
quicker, and plaintiffs who appeal a ruling will no longer have to be assisted
by lawyers or legal counsel. Another important change has to do with the
compulsory recording of testimonies and of everything a witness states during
trial, without so-called filtering by the judge. The changes on the Code of
Civil Procedure have been endorsed with 72 votes, coming from the Social
Democrats, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of
Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which has a parliamentary cooperation protocol
with the ruling coalition. Only 7 opposition MPs voted against, while the
others abstained.

According to
Save Romania Union, the new provisions put citizens at a disadvantage in
consumer protection lawsuits and create difficulties for those who have
borrowed money from banks. The latter would have to file a separate lawsuit if
they decide to challenge what they see as abusive clauses in banking loan
contracts. Commentators emphasise the importance of the changes to the Code of
Civil Procedure, given their broad scope. Basically, they explain, the Code is
applicable in any non-criminal law proceedings, such as administrative law,
family law, labour law, trade law and so on.

The draft
adopted by the Senate is to be reviewed once again by the special committee on
the justice laws, and then forwarded for endorsement to the Chamber of
Deputies, the decision-making body in this case.