What Does Court Caseload Regulation Mean in Romania?

The court caseload regulation mechanism aims to ensure the efficient operation of courts in Romania and maintain the quality of the administration of justice. Under Decision No. 1734 of 9 September 2026, issued by the Superior Council of Magistracy (CSM), its implementation must ensure transparent and predictable caseflow management while respecting the right of access to justice. In practical terms, the mechanism determines how many cases a court in Romania can take on each day, depending on the number of judges.

How a Court’s Capacity Is Calculated: How Many Cases Can a Judge Handle Each Year?

A court’s case-handling capacity is calculated on the basis of the number of cases a judge can dispose of in one year.

The annual reference capacity varies according to the level of court:

• District courts (judecătorii): 288 cases per judge per year;
• Tribunals (tribunale): 192 cases per judge per year;
• Courts of appeal (curți de apel): 119 cases per judge per year.

Each court’s daily capacity is calculated in real time by the IT system. It is determined by multiplying the annual case disposal capacity per judge by the number of judges actually in active service and dividing the result by the number of calendar days in the year.

Judges who are temporarily absent from the court for more than 60 consecutive calendar days, including those on leave, are excluded when calculating the number of active judges.

For judges granted a reduced judicial workload, case disposal capacity is reduced by 50%. Each court updates its records of active judges whenever changes occur.

How Cases Exceeding a Court’s Capacity Are Managed in Romania

Cases exceeding a court’s available daily capacity are entered in the Caseflow Management Register, on separate lists for each category of cases, for subsequent allocation.

Cases are entered in the order in which they were registered. For cases referred by another court following a finding that it lacks jurisdiction, or transferred from another court, the registration date at the court first seised is used.

• Step 1: Cases are registered.
  All documents instituting proceedings received on a given day are registered and assigned a case number in the ECRIS case management system.
• Step 2: Cases eligible for allocation are identified.
  Once all documents received that day have been registered, the IT application identifies the cases falling within the court’s available daily capacity and those to be allocated at a later date.
• Step 3: Cases falling within the available capacity are allocated.
  Allocation takes place on the next working day. By way of exception, priority cases and cases excluded from the mechanism are allocated immediately upon registration.
• Step 4: The remaining cases are entered in the register.
  Cases that cannot be allocated are entered in the Caseflow Management Register. In ECRIS, they are assigned to an administrative panel bearing the same name, pending subsequent allocation.

If the IT application is not operational:
Until the issue is resolved, the parameters from the last day on which the application was operational are used.

The CSM Platform for Estimating Case Allocation Times in Romania

The tool provides an indicative estimate of the time until a new case is allocated to a judicial panel. It does not estimate the total duration of the proceedings or the date of the first hearing.

When Can a Case Awaiting Allocation Be Given Priority?

The CSM states that priority cases are allocated on the day of registration, even if this means exceeding the court’s daily capacity