The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announces that the draft law on the Supreme Court of Justice (reform of the CSJ) has been submitted for coordination and public consultation. By 6 September, the institutions responsible for justice and non-governmental organisations are to submit proposals and recommendations for improving the draft law. The draft will also be submitted to the Venice Commission for expertise, the Ministry of Justice also announces.

One of the main major changes proposed in the draft law concerns the modification of the composition of the CSJ and the reduction of the number of judges from 33 to 20 by 1 June 2023, when the new composition of the CSJ is due to start its work.

According to the draft, the judges of the CSJ will be selected by the Supreme Council of Magistracy (CSM) through a public competition on the basis of merit:

13 judges will be selected from among career judges (for persons who have served as a judge in the courts, the draft requires at least 8 years of actual experience as a judge; for persons who have served as a judge of the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) – at least 6 years of actual experience in that position)

7 judges will be selected from among non-judicial jurists (lawyers, prosecutors, university professors), who have at least 10 years’ actual experience in the respective posts.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the draft also provides for an extraordinary evaluation of the current judges of the CSJ, as well as of the candidates for the 7 positions for non-judges. The extraordinary evaluation will be carried out in two stages: evaluation of ethical and financial integrity, and evaluation of professionalism.

“The first stage is entrusted to the independent Commission for the evaluation of the integrity of candidates for membership in the self-governing bodies of judges and prosecutors (Pre-Vetting Commission), which will assess the ethical and financial integrity of the current judges of the CSJ, as well as the candidates for the vacant positions in the CSJ. In this context, it is proposed to extend the mandate of the Pre-Vetting Commission for another year.

If the candidate passes the first stage of the evaluation by the Pre-Vetting Commission, then the CSM, through the Performance Evaluation College of Judges, will evaluate the candidate on a third criterion – professionalism relevant to the position,” the Ministry of Justice announces.

The draft law proposed for consideration also sets out the powers for the CSJ:

• Ensuring uniform interpretation and application of legislation in the justice system;
• examining, as the first instance, categories of cases established by law;
• to examine, as a court of appeal, cases of the greatest social and legal importance, as well as those which reveal particularly serious violations of the law and human rights;
• referral to the Constitutional Court for examination of the exception of unconstitutionality of legal acts resulting from specific criminal, contravention, civil or administrative cases;
• to settle applications for review of cases following a judgment of conviction of the Republic of Moldova at the ECtHR;
• settlement, in cases provided for by law, of other types of applications.

The CSJ will also be the main authority responsible for ensuring uniform interpretation and application of legislation in the judicial system. To this end, the CSJ will be able to take a number of measures:

• it will publish the recommendations resulting from the work on the generalisation of judicial practice;
• develop, approve and publish guidelines on the application of the law (similar to the ECtHR, the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice);
• at the request of the courts, issue advisory opinions (similar to the European Court of Justice and the ECtHR);
• issue binding judgments on applications in the interest of the law.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the working group for the elaboration of the Concept for the reform of the CSJ, which includes representatives of the CSJ, the Superior Council of Magistracy, the courts of appeal, the Chisinau Court, the Superior Council of Prosecutors, the Union of Lawyers of Moldova, the Parliamentary Legal, Appointments and Immunities Commission, the Legal Resources Centre of Moldova, etc., contributed to the elaboration of the draft law. Representatives of the working group met in several meetings and formulated, including in writing, proposals to improve the Reform Concept and the draft normative act, the MJ also notes.

The process of drafting the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) Reform Concept was initiated on 10 June 2022.