Romanian Courts to be given four-month deadline to rule in criminal cases

Romania's Senate adopted on Tuesday, May 4, as the first chamber consulted, the amendments proposed by the ruling coalition to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC), including the 120-day deadline for courts to rule in criminal cases after the debates end, G4media.ro reported.

The detailed reasoning will be published on the day of the ruling, according to the amendments.

The draft amendment to the CPC follows the recent Constitutional Court decision, according to which the court ruling must be followed immediately by the detailed reasoning on the same day. Failure to publish the detailed reasoning infringes on the right of access to court and the right to a fair trial, the Constitutional Court argued.

Currently, the CPC stipulates that courts must announce their ruling within a maximum of 15 days from the conclusion of the deliberations and publish the detailed reasoning within 30 days from the ruling. Nevertheless, the deadlines are frequently not observed.

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