- Decision no. 18/2022 of the High Court of Cassation and Justice – the panel competent to judge the referral in the interest of the law, regarding the case no. 1.423/1/2022
- By referral in the interest of the law, it is requested to give a unitary interpretation and application of the provisions of paragraph (2) of Article 14 of Romanian Government Ordinance no. 2/2001 on the legal regime of contraventions, with subsequent amendments and completions (Romanian Government Ordinance no. 2/2001), article having the following content: (1) enforcement of contravention sanctions shall be prescribed if the minutes of finding the contravention have not been communicated to the offender within two months at the latest from the date of application of the sanction. (2) the limitation of the execution of contravention sanctions can be ascertained even by the court invested with the settlement of the contravention complaint.”
- The author of the complaint, the Management Board of the Court of Appeal Brasov, has expressed its point of view in accordance with the jurisprudence according to which the Romanian Court may invoke ex officio the prescription of enforcement of the contravention sanction in disputes having as object the contravention complaint, because the provisions of Article 14 paragraph (2) of the Romanian Government Ordinance no. 2/2001, Introduced by Law no. 76/2012 for the implementation of Law no. 134/2010 on the Romanian Code of Civil Procedure, derogates from the provisions of Article 711 of the Romanian Code of Civil Procedure, which refer to the provisions of the Romanian Civil Code, including those of Article 2512 paragraph (2) of this Romanian Code.
- The court considered that the provisions of Article 14 paragraph (2) of Government Ordinance no. 2/2001 contain a self-contained regulation in the matter of contraventions, derogating from common law, that allows the court charged with the settlement of the contravention complaint to verify on its own initiative and to invoke ex officio the limitation of the execution of the contravention sanction. Moreover, this conclusion leads to the literal interpretation of the text of Article 14 paragraph (2) of Government Ordinance no. 2/2001, by which the legislator expressly and unequivocally provided that the court can find the prescription of the execution of contravention sanctions, forms that contain, intrinsically, the provisions of the law. the possibility conferred on the court to invoke the exception of the prescription of its own motion.
- Therefore, in contravention matters, the limitation of the execution of contravention sanctions is an aspect of public policy and represents a cause for the removal of the execution of the sanction, which, pursuant to Article 14 paragraph (2) of Romanian Government Ordinance no. 2/2001, can be invoked ex officio by the court charged with the settlement of the prior complaint. Thus, the instanche admits the appeal in the interest of the law formulated by the Management College of the Court of Appeal Brasov.
- Law no. 382/2022 on the approval of Romanian Government Emergency Ordinance no. 143/2022 amending Article 17 of Romanian Government Ordinance no. 25/2014 on the employment and posting of aliens on the territory of Romania and amending and supplementing certain normative acts on the regime of aliens in Romania
- Foreigners who have entered the territory of Romania legally and whose single permit has expired can apply for a new single permit, within 90 days from the date of entry into force of this law, if the termination of the employment relationship of the alien was registered no later than 18 months before the date of entry into force of this law.
- The provisions of paragraph (1) shall not apply to aliens for whom the Romanian General Inspectorate for Immigration issued the return decision until the date of entry into force of this law.