Additional IPRE’s opinion concerning the draft law on the pre-vetting mechanism or assessment of the integrity of candidates for membership in the SCM and CSP

The Institute for European Policies and Reform (IPRE) has issued an additional opinion on the draft law on some measures for the selection of candidates for administrative positions in the self-governing bodies of judges and prosecutors and the amendment of regulations (draft law on pre-vetting).

IPRE’s experts analysed and proposed some additional recommendations on the draft law on some measures for the selection of candidates for administrative positions in the self-governing bodies of judges and prosecutors, approved by the Government on January 19, 2022 and proposed to Parliament for adoption.

We note that the draft law approved by the Government, reflects most of the recommendations proposed in the Opinion released by the Justice Expert Group (GEJ) within IPRE, on the 17th of December 2021, as well as in the public consultations organised by the Ministry of Justice. In this context, we hereby support the Government’s legislative initiative and at the same time present a set of additional recommendations for consideration in the legislative procedure in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. The main recommendations concern:

• Provision of essential elements concerning the organisation and functioning of the Evaluation Committee’s Secretariat;
• Description, in the draft law, of the mechanism regarding the delegation of three international members of the Evaluation Commission from the development partners’ side, including the approval of the list by the Government;
• Introduction of the obligation for members of the Evaluation Commission to submit a declaration of assets and interests;
• Provision of a clear mechanism on the establishment and resolution of conflicts of interest for members of the Evaluation Committee in relation to the evaluated candidates;
• Introduction of an obligation for candidates to present data regarding their external trips made during the last 5 years and the details of those trips;

More details on these and other recommendations can be found in the IPRE opinion, available here in EN here and RO here.

This opinion was drafted in the framework of the project “Strengthening the resilience against the systemic kleptocracy in the Republic of Moldova”, implemented by IPRE and with the financial support of Soros Foundation Moldova. The content of the opinion represents the view of the IPRE experts responsible for drafting it and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Soros Foundation Moldova.