For nearly one
\nand a half years, the persistence with which the governmental coalition made up
\nof the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats has
\nbeen seeking to change the criminal codes and the justice laws has been
\nstrongly criticised by the rightist Opposition, civil society and the media as
\nan attempt to obstruct anti-corruption efforts and to overpower magistrates. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In contrast, the
\ncivil codes have triggered far less controversy. On Tuesday, the Senate, as a
\nfirst-instance parliamentary chamber, endorsed a new Code of Civil Procedure,
\nafter the document was passed last week by the special parliamentary committee
\non the justice laws. The committee chairman, the former Social Democratic
\njustice minister Florin Iordache, said that, in light of rulings by the
\nConstitutional Court and the suggestions made by the Higher Council of
\nMagistracy, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the High Court of cassation and
\njustice and magistrate associations, as many as 110 articles have been amended,
\naccounting for one-fifth of the entire Code. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The committee
\nsays the changes may turn the judiciary into an environment that citizens
\nperceive as less hostile than before. For instance, civil lawsuits will be
\nquicker, and plaintiffs who appeal a ruling will no longer have to be assisted
\nby lawyers or legal counsel. Another important change has to do with the
\ncompulsory recording of testimonies and of everything a witness states during
\ntrial, without so-called filtering by the judge. The changes on the Code of
\nCivil Procedure have been endorsed with 72 votes, coming from the Social
\nDemocrats, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats and the Democratic Union of
\nEthnic Hungarians in Romania, which has a parliamentary cooperation protocol
\nwith the ruling coalition. Only 7 opposition MPs voted against, while the
\nothers abstained.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to
\nSave Romania Union, the new provisions put citizens at a disadvantage in
\nconsumer protection lawsuits and create difficulties for those who have
\nborrowed money from banks. The latter would have to file a separate lawsuit if
\nthey decide to challenge what they see as abusive clauses in banking loan
\ncontracts. Commentators emphasise the importance of the changes to the Code of
\nCivil Procedure, given their broad scope. Basically, they explain, the Code is
\napplicable in any non-criminal law proceedings, such as administrative law,
\nfamily law, labour law, trade law and so on. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The draft
\nadopted by the Senate is to be reviewed once again by the special committee on
\nthe justice laws, and then forwarded for endorsement to the Chamber of
\nDeputies, the decision-making body in this case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate of Romania approved changes on one-fifth of the provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":48094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[39346],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-77899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-code-of-civil-procedure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n