The Reform of the Judiciary
Strengthening Independence, Improving Efficiency and Increasing Resources
- Information note -

In order to close negotiations, Romania must close chapter 24 on Justice and Home Affairs, which includes the main elements related to the rule of law and the reform of the judiciary.

The most important step was the adoption by referendum of the new revised Constitution in October 2003. Among other crucial reforms, it strengthens the principle of separation and equilibrium between state powers – legislative, executive and judicial – in the framework of constitutional democracy.

The extraordinary appeal by the General Prosecutor was eliminated and a new ground for review was added where the European Court of Human Rights found a breach of human rights.

The Ministry of Justice has developed an action plan based on the strategy for reform adopted by the Government. The action plan is structured on the measures to be taken, deadlines, financial resources and responsible bodies, is monitored by working groups under the supervision of the Minister of Justice and has the following guidelines:
- new updated and improved laws with proper implementation
- further guarantees for fair treatment (reinsertion and supervision services, measures in the imprisonment system, alternative methods for conflicts resolution),
- increasing the quality of the judicial process (access to justice, eliminating corruption),
- improving effectiveness (reorganisation, creating specialised courts, increasing staff)
- reforming special sectors (juvenile justice, bankruptcy legislation, registration procedure),
- improving institutional capacity of the judicial system (the court manager, investments programmes, using information technology),
- training of the staff (magistrates and auxiliary personnel).

A number of laws are at different stages of adoption by Parliament, including:
- Draft law on the organisation of the judiciary, with the following objectives: specialisation of the courts, distribution of the cases using information technology, involvement of judges and prosecutors in the decision-making process regarding the organisation and administration of courts and prosecutors` offices (including their budgets).
- Draft new laws on the statute of lawyers, bankruptcy, new updated and consolidated Civil and Criminal Codes (including procedural codes)
- Draft law on the statute of the magistrates with the following objectives: strengthening their status and their career perspectives, strengthening the role that the guardian of Judiciary Independence (the Superior Council of Magistracy) plays in the magistrates` career by transferring powers of nomination and promotion of magistrates from the Minister of Justice and increasing the importance of the magistrates` professional deontology.

The law on the organisation of the Superior Council of the Magistracy is being drafted with extensive consultation.
The Public Ministry (the prosecution) is also being reformed to improve the fight against different forms of criminality, with special attention to combating organized crime, drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, corruption, money laundering, economic crime, terrorism and
cyber-crime. Prosecutors are specialising and are increasingly cooperating with their European counterparts to combat trans-national criminality.

As an associate state to the European Union, Romania takes part, as observer, in the reunions of the European Judicial Network in criminal matters and of the EUROJUST. Romania has designated contact points for the European Judicial Network and EUROJUST. As proof of this cooperation, in 2003 for instance, at the level of the Directorate for External Affairs within the Ministry of Justice alone, 19.000 cases regarding international judicial cooperation (civil, criminal, commercial and family law) were solved.

Human resources in the judicial system have increased in number since September last year.
531 new posts for judges have been added to the existing 3727. The number of prosecutors has also increased by approximately 7%.

Improving training for magistrates is also of a paramount importance. The National Institute of Magistracy is essentially involved in the reform of the Judiciary by training judges and prosecutors. After the initial 2 years of uniform training, continuous training seminars for magistrates are held in Bucharest and in other 3 regional centres of the Institute.

Training in the NIM includes as priorities the study of EC Law, the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, human rights and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. 180 seminars were organized between 2001-2003 within continuous training for magistrates in fields like: commercial law, intellectual property, labour law and juvenile justice. Court clerks are also being trained to be able to perform better their current and future responsibilities, in the context of the reform of the judiciary.

Millions of euros have been allocated for 2004 for new investments in the renovation of buildings, furniture and equipment. An IT strategy for the judiciary for 2004-2007 was drafted, addressing the following issues:
- Endowment with hardware and cabling system
- Improvement of the communications infrastructure
- Software applications for the management of files, legislative and jurisprudence database, evidence of the detainees
- Human resources policy.

Until 2007, the communications infrastructure will be developed and expanded to all structures in the justice system by creating the national network of communications belonging to the justice system, connecting them to the INTERNET, physical developing of local networks, creating the INTRANET – Judiciary and completing the supply of computers, servers and technology.