#Justice4Moldova: Position Paper of the Group of Justice Experts on the draft law amending some normative acts – revision of the judicial map

On December 12, 2023, the Ministry of Justice published the draft law amending certain normative acts (on the revision of the judicial map) (hereinafter – the draft law). Through this draft law, the Ministry of Justice intervenes with proposals to modify the judicial map by creating a new court in Ialoveni on account of the separation of this headquarters from the Hancesti Court and the redistribution of some headquarters of the Balti, Cimislia, Edinet, Cahul, Straseni, Comrat, Drochia, Hancesti and Ungheni courts.

Similarly, through this draft law, the Ministry of Justice proposes to reconfigure the courts of appeal by renaming and reorganizing them into the Centre Court of Appeal, the North Court of Appeal and the South Court of Appeal.

The informative note accompanying this draft law describes the reasoning that justified the elaboration and promotion of this draft law, the main arguments being: (1) the impossibility of forming panels of judges in the headquarters of courts where an insufficient number of judges work; (2) the workload for judges in some courts; (3) the impossibility of examining applications for recusal or speeding up the examination of cases in premises where 1 or 2 judges work; (4) exaggerated operational costs for the circulation of documents/files between premises; (5) the problem of random distribution of cases in courts with a small number of judges; (6) lack of options for litigants to travel to the premises of some courts.

In this context, Ms. Angela Popil, lawyer and member of the Group of Justice Experts (GEJ) of the Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE) prepared a Position Paper on the respective draft law. The draft law on the revision of the judicial map is considered relevant and appropriate. The author considers that the draft law shall ensure a good functioning of the courts and respect of the rights and needs of citizens. Nonetheless, draft needs to be improved and thus a set of conceptual proposals are presented in the text of the position note presented to the Ministry of Justice.

The following recommendations for improving the draft law are proposed by the member of the Group of Justice Experts:

• Conducting a comprehensive impact analysis of the proposed amendments regarding the reconfiguration of district courts and renaming and reconfiguring the districts of courts of appeal, respecting the rigors set out in Government Decision nr. 23/2019 on the approval of the Methodology for impact analysis in the process of substantiating draft normative acts.
• Review of the information note in the part referring to the need to transfer some court premises to other courts in order to describe the expected effects of this transfer.
• Exclusion from item 15 of the Annex to Law nr. 76/2016 on the reorganization of the courts of law of the Șoldanesti headquarters of Orhei Court (Art. II, point 2 of the draft).
• Clarifying in the briefing note the arguments and reasoning justifying the change of name of the courts of appeal, including an impact assessment, of the benefits and advantages of this proposal.
• Consolidation of arguments from the informative note on the proposal to create the South Court of Appeal with headquarters in mun. Cahul and mun. Comrat especially with reference to the benefits of this initiative and its effects on the efficient realization of citizens’ right of free access to justice.
• Clarification and reflection in the informative note of the reasoning justifying the transfer of Hancesti Court from the district of the Chisinau Court of Appeal (Center) to the South Court of Appeal, the cost-benefit assessment of this proposal, including the impact of this transfer on the activity of professionals (lawyers, prosecutors, bailiffs, etc.).
• Impact assessment of the transitional provisions in Article III para. (2) of the draft law in the part aimed at transferring the localities from Nisporeni district to Straseni district court after commissioning of the new headquarters of Straseni district court in conjunction with the proposal to transfer Ungheni district court with all current seats in the district of the North Court of Appeal (Balti).

For more details, please see the GEJ Position Paper available HERE.

This publication was prepared with the financial support of the European Union and Soros Foundation Moldova. Its content is the sole responsibility of the project “Ensuring the integrity, efficiency and independence of the justice system in Moldova – #Justice4Moldova”, funded by the European Union and co-financed by Soros Foundation Moldova. The content of the material belongs to the authors and does not necessarily reflect the point of view of the European Union and Soros Foundation Moldova.