Courts inner order Regulation
-Adopted by the SCM Decision no. 387/22.09.2005, published in the Official Journal, part I no. 958/28.10.2005, as subsequently amended and modifiedby:
- SCM Decision no.352/10.05.2006, published in the Official Journal, part I no.491/7.06.2006
-SCM Decision no.635/28.09.2006, published in the OJ, part I no.844/13.09.2006,
-SCM Decision no.46/01.02.2007, published in the Official Journal, part I no.107/13.02.2007
- SCM Decision no. 367/10.04.2008, published in the Official Journal, part I no.
-SCM Decisionno.614/26.06.2008, published in the OJ, part I no.563/25.07.2008.
-SCM Decision no.1154/30.10.2008, published in the OJ, part I no.787/25.11.2008.
- SCM Decision no.1315/27.11.2008, published in the OJ, part I no. 835/11.12.2008.
- SCM Decision no. 38/15.01.2009, published in the OJ, part I no.64/03.02.2009.
Chapter I
General provisions
Art. 1-(1) The High Court ofCassation and Justice and the other courts established by the law shall exercise the judicial power.
(2) The judicial power is separate and equivalent to the other powers of the state, having its own attributions, exercised through courts, according to the constitutional principles of independence and immovability of judges, as well as the other legal provisions.
(3) The courts shall provide justice, in the name of the law, to the end of defending and accomplishing the fundamental rights and liberties of citizens, as well as the other legitimate rights and interests submitted to the judge, without privileges and discrimination.
(4) The Superior Council of Magistracy is the constitutional body fulfilling the role of ensuring the independence of justice.
Art. 2-(1) The courts of first instance, the tribunals, the specialized tribunals, the courts of appeal and the military courts shall be organized and shall function according to the provisions of Law no. 304/2004 regarding the organization of the judiciary, republished, and the present regulation.
(2) Within the courts of appeal and the tribunals there shall operate sections or, the case being, specialized panels for civil, criminal, commercial, juveniles and family, administrative and fiscal, labour and social insurances cases, as well as according to the nature and number of cases, separate maritime and fluvial sections or for other matters.
(3) In the domains provided in Para (2) there may be established specialized tribunals.
(4) Within the first instance courts there shall be established sections or specialized panels for juvenile and family cases. There may be established sections or specialized panels in other matters, depending on the nature and amount of cases within the first instance courts.
(5) Depending on the load of activity, the nature and complexity of the cases, for the courts of appeal, tribunals and first instance courts may be established secondary premises with permanent activity in other cities of the county or in Bucharest, according to the provisions ofart. 42of the Law no. 304/2004, republished.
Art. 3-(1) The Ministry of Justice shall ensure the organization and administration of the judiciary as a public service.
(2) The material and financial means necessary for the functioning of the courts shall be ensured from the state budget, the legal stamp, judiciary fines, legal expenses and other extra-budgetary sources, according to the law, with the advice of the Superior Council of Magistracy. The administration of material and financial means shall be done through the courts of appeal and the tribunals, the presidents of these courts being secondary credit accountants and respectively tertiary credit accountants.
Chapter II
Provisions regarding the courts leadership, the attributions of judges, the specialty auxiliary personnel and the personnel of the economical-financial and administrative department
Section I
General Provisions
Art. 4-(1) The courts shall be endowed with the necessary amount of judges, as well as specialty auxiliary personnel and personnel of the economical-financial and administrative department.
(2) The leadership of the courts shall be ensured by the president and, according to the load of activity and the complexity of cases, by one or more vice-presidents. Also, at every court there shall operate a leading board and the general assembly of judges.
Section II
Provisions regarding the activity of judges
Art. 5-(1) The judges appointed by the President of Romania shall be immovable. The probationary judges shall enjoy stability.
(2) The judges shall have the following duties:
a) to ensure, through their activity, the observance of the law and the independence of the judiciary;
b) to observe the provisions of the deontological code, the legal provisions, those deriving from the Regulations, the decisions of the general assemblies and the leading boards;
c) to continuously improve their professional training, according to the specialization necessities;
d) to observe the working schedule, to behave decently and civilized in the professional relations;
e) to prove professional competence and calmness, patience, politeness and impartiality towards the litigants, witnesses, lawyers and other persons encountered while in official capacity;
f) to take part at the sessions, in the panels established according to the law and to observe the confidentiality of the deliberation;
g) to solve the cases within a reasonable timeframe;
h) to ensure the security of files for the time they are in possession thereof to study, solve or motivate;
i) to immediately inform the president of the court where he/she functions any intrusion in the act of justice from a natural or legal person or a group of interests, which might affect his/her independence or impartiality or might create suspicions of that;
j) to fulfil, within the limits of his/her position, other attributions than those regarding the justice activity, determined by the leading board of the court, according to the law.
Art. 6-(1) The office of judge is incompatible with any other public or private offices, except for the academic positions in the University system, as well as training positions within the National Institute of Magistracy and National School for Clerks, according to the law.
(2) The academic activity shall be performed outside the working schedule set at the court where the judge functions.
Art. 7–The judges may participate to the drafting of publications, articles, specialty studies, literary or scientific works or audio-video shows, except for the ones having a political trait. The judges may be members of examination commissions or for the drafting of legislative acts, of internal or international documents and may be members of scientific societies, as well as any other legal persons of private law lacking a lucrative purpose.
Art. 8–The law shall provide the judges interdictions and incompatibilities.
Section III
The leading of courts
Art. 9-(1) Each court shall be lead by a president exercising the management attributions in order to organize efficiently the activity thereof.
(2) Depending on the workload and the complexity of cases, the president of the courts of appeal, tribunals and specialized tribunals may be assisted by 1 – 2 vice-presidents, and the president of first instance courts may be assisted by one vice-president. The Superior Council of Magistracy shall determine the courts of first instance where the presidents are assisted by vice-presidents.
(3) At the Court of Appeal of Bucharest and the Tribunal of Bucharest, the president may be assisted by 1 – 3 vice-presidents.
(4) The sections of the courts shall be run by presidents of section.
§ 1. The president and vice-president of the court of appeal
Art. 10-(1) The president of the court of appeal shall exercise the management prerogatives in order to organize efficiently the activity of the court, as well as coordination and control attributions regarding the administration of the court of appeal and the courts within its jurisdiction, as follows:
a) shall take measures for the good organization and functioning of the court as well as the activity of the courts in the jurisdiction of the respective court of appeal;
b) shall ensure and verify personally or through the vice-president or other judges appointed to this end, with the approval of the leading board, the observance of the legal obligations and regulations by the judges and the specialty auxiliary personnel, for all the courts in its jurisdiction;
c) shall organize and coordinate the control of the management of the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction;
d) shall propose to the Superior Council of Magistracy the appointing into the office of president of section;
e) shall appoint the judges who shall fulfil, according to the law other attributions than those regarding the judging activity;
f) shall follow and be liable for the random distribution of cases, according to the law;
g) shall designate by rotation, the judges supposed to perform certain acts, given to the Judiciary Inspection of the Superior Council of Magistracy, at its request;
h) shall appoint the judges responsible for the organization of in service professional training of the judges from the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction;
i) shall issue the consultative advice regarding the presence to the capacity exam of the probationary judges;
j) shall delegate, with their approval, the judges from the courts of first instance, tribunals or specialized tribunals in the jurisdiction of the court of appeal, according to the law;
k) shall request to the Superior Council of Magistracy the delegation of judges, according to the law;
l) shall summon, annually or every time is necessary, the general assembly of judges in its jurisdiction, presiding over it;
m) shall summon the leading board of the court and shall preside over its sessions;
n) shall appoint the specialty auxiliary personnel in the economic-financial and administrative department of the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction, shall approve the transfer, the delegation and the seconding and shall ordain the promotion and enforcement of disciplinary sanctions for these categories of personnel, according to the law;
o) shall distribute the personnel within the auxiliary departments of the court of appeal;
p) shall monitor permanently the efficient management of the human resources from the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction, in order to ensure a balanced workload for each person and shall propose measures for supplementing or diminishing the number of positions;
q) shall take measures in order to observe the working schedule and to be efficiently used by the entire court personnel, in order to achieve on time and in good conditions the works and to establish working relations able to ensure the appropriate fulfilment of duties;
r) shall ensure, according to the law the collaboration of the courts from the jurisdiction of the court of appeal with the prosecutor’s offices attached to them, the police, the professional organizations of lawyers, public notaries, legal advisers, bailiffs, experts and interpreters as well as other institutions and organizations;
s) shall appoint the vice-president or, the case being, the judge replacing him when he/she is absent in court and in all situations of temporary impossibility to exercise the office;
ş) shall approve the financial benefits derived from the legal stamp, the prizes and the stimulations provided by the law for judges and the other categories of personnel within the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction;
t) shall guide and verify the activity of the construction engineer from the court of appeal; this competence may be delegated to the economic manager;
ţ) shall be secondary credit accountant and shall be liable, according to the law, for the use of the amounts of money from the budget, for the integrity of the assets within the institution he/she is running, for the update of the accounts and the accounting records of budget. The specific attributions of credit accountant may be delegated to the vice-president or, the case being, to one of the vice-presidentsor to the economic manager;
u) shall notify the special medical commission in the case provided by art. 62Para (1) b) of the Law no. 303/2004 regarding the statute of judges and prosecutors, republished;
v) shall take measures to elaborate and publish the jurisprudence of the court of appeal.
(2) The attributions of the president provided in Para (1) e), g), k) , p) and ş) shall be exercised with the approval of the leading board of the court of appeal, and the attribution provided in Para (1) d) shall be exercised with the consultation of the judges from that section and the leading board.
(3) The president of the court of appeal shall fulfil any other attributions provided by the law and the regulations.
Art. 11-(1) The vice-president of the court of appeal shall exercise the following attributions:
a) shall ensure and verify the observance of legal obligations and of the regulations by the judges, the specialty auxiliary personnel and the personnel of the economic-financial and administrative department;
b) shall ensure the awareness and the capitalization of the practice of the courts for judicial control, of the decisions of the Constitutional Court as well as the European jurisprudence;
c) shall ensure the daily information of judges regarding the new legislative acts;
d) shall organize the professional training of judges and shall monitor its development and shall coordinate the activity of unification of the judicial practice;
e) shall be responsible for the organization o the activity of continuous professional training of the judges from the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction and for the way the judges appointed to this end accomplish their duties;
f) shall ensure the functioning of the database regarding the personnel from the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction and shall take the necessary measures to maintain it proper conditions;
g) shall organize the guard for the premises of the court and the other assets, as well as the fire guard, according to the law;
h) shall verify the observance of the labour protection legal provisions;
i) shall ensure the permanent control of the maintenance of files, the decision folders and the registers of the court of appeal and the courts in its jurisdiction;
j) shall coordinate the activity of the gendarme’s body for the court of appeal.
(2) The vice-president of the court of appeal shall fulfil any other attributions provided by law and regulations or established by the president of the court, according to the law.
(3) The vice-president appointed to replace the president of court shall exercise, in his/her absence, the attributions provided in art. 10.
(4) At the courts of appeal where there are 2 or 3 vice-presidents, the attributions of each one shall be set through a decision of the court president.
§ 2. The president and the vice-president of the tribunal
Art. 12-(1) In the activity of coordination and control regarding the administration of the tribunal and the courts within its jurisdiction, the president of the tribunal shall exercise the following attributions:
a) summons, annually or whenever necessary, the general assembly of the judges from the tribunal and the general assembly of judges from the courts in its jurisdiction, also presiding them;
b) summons the leading board of the tribunal and shall preside over its sessions;
c) ensures the good functioning of the tribunal’s activity and the courts in its jurisdiction;
d) ensures and verify, personally or through the vice-president or other judges appointed to this end, with the approval of the leading board, the observance of legal obligations and regulations by the judges and the specialized auxiliary personnel, at the tribunal and at the courts in its jurisdiction;
e) appoints the judges who, according to the law, shall fulfil other attributions than those regarding the judging activity;
f) appoints, by rotation, the judges supposed to elaborate certain acts, in the competence of the Judicial Inspection of the Superior Council of Magistracy, at its request;
g) proposes to the Superior Council of Magistracy the appointment into the office of president of section;
h) monitors closely the efficient management of human resources at the tribunal and the courts in its jurisdiction, in order to ensure a balanced workload for each person;
i) ensures, according to the law, the collaboration of the courts in the jurisdiction of the tribunal with the prosecutor’s offices attached to them, the police, the professional organizations of lawyers, public notaries, legal counsellors, bailiffs and interpreters as well as other institutions and organizations;
j) distributes the personnel within the auxiliary departments of the court;
k) appoints the vice-president or, the case being, the judge replacing him/her when the former is absent from the court and in all the situations of temporary impossibility of exercising the office;
l) exercises, within the tribunal and according to the limits of his/her capacity, the attributions provided in art. 10 paragraph (1) letters a), c), e), f), q), ş) and u);
m) is tertiary credit accountant and shall be responsible for the use, according to the law, of the amounts of money from the budget, for the integrity of the assets of the unit, the update of the accounting and the accounting of the budget exercise. The specific attributions of credit accountant may be delegated to the vice-president or, the case being, to one of the vice-presidents or to the economic manager;