The Ministry of Justice announced on Thursday that it has sent to the Government for approval the two draft laws on the Criminal Codes (Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code), which bring the legislation into line with the Romanian Constitution, as interpreted by the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR).
According to a press release of the Ministry of Justice sent to AGERPRES, it is about the draft law for the amendment and completion of Law 286/2009 on the Criminal Code, as well as of other pieces of legislation and the draft law for the amendment and completion of Law 135/2010 on the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as for the modification of other pieces of legislation.
The Ministry noted that the draft laws do not belong to the category of those for which the opinion of the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM) is formally requested, however, in the spirit of the policy of consulting the representatives of the judiciary on its public policies addressed to the judiciary, the ministry consulted the CSM.
The source says that a first form of the texts, drafted in 2019 within the Ministry of Justice, was put, at the end of 2019 – beginning of 2020, in the discussion of the inter-institutional working group set up at the level of the Ministry of Justice, which had as object the discussion of some aspects regarding the amendment of the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, a working group attended by representatives of institutions in the judiciary (ICCJ – High Court of Cassation and Justice, PICCJ – Prosecutor’s Office attached to the ICCJ, DNA – National Anti-corruption Directorate, DIICOT – Directorate of Organsied Criminal Investigation and Terrorism, CSM, INM – National Institute of Magistracy), a group that worked on the initial texts.
The two draft laws, resulting from the debates within the working group, were subject to public debate by publishing them on the website of the Ministry of Justice on July 27, 2021, respectively September 2, 2021.
The Ministry of Justice says it has forwarded the two draft laws to the Superior Council of Magistracy, requesting its point of view, which was issued on April 1. Some of the observations received from the Superior Council of Magistracy were used at the completion of the drafts.
Separately, the Ministry of Justice started the inter-ministerial approval procedure, sending the draft law for the amendment and completion of Law 286/2009 on the Criminal Code, as well as other pieces of legislation to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which endorsed it on April 1st.
Also, the draft laws were the subject of technical working consultations with the European Commission, between April and May 2022.
