Perspectives of Law and Public Administration (Dec 2022)
The Standardized and Uncontroversial “Administrative” Approach to Judging Contravention Complaints, Invalidated by Decision No. 404/2022 of the Constitutional Court of Romania
Abstract
The aim of this study - occasioned by the Romanian Constitutional (RCC) Decision. No. 404 of September 21, 2022, we bring back into discussion the obligation of the legislative forum not to ignore the principle of the security of legal relations in the component related to the clarity, accessibility, and predictability of the law. The legislative proposal for the amendment and completion of Government Ordinance (GO) no. 2/2001 on the legal regime of contraventions (PLx 598/2021) - based on the standardization of the contravention procedure and the introduction of the written procedure, in the council chamber, with the removal of the subpoena of the parties, in the case of specific complaints, in order to make justice more efficient. The opinions of the Legislative Council and the Superior Council of the Magistracy are observed and analyzed - through the lens of its considerations and effects, RCC Decision no. 404/2022 by which the notification of unconstitutionality formulated by the People's Advocate was admitted. It is argued that the fundamental mission of justice as an act of judicial justice and as a public service cannot be subordinated to a purely administrative approach, which abandons the requirements of the rule of law and mutilates the right to a fair trial. Considering the many changes and additions to GO no. 2/2002, respectively attempts to change invalidated by the administrative litigation court, we conclude with the observation that legislation for the sake of legislation is a practice that must be abandoned, the need to adopt a Contraventional Code being brought back into discussion.
