At the hearing of 18 March 2021, the Constitutional Court, in the context of the review of the laws after the promulgation, unanimously upheld the exception of unconstitutionality, and found unconstitutional the provisions of Article 21 (6) of Law No 165/2013 on measures to complete the process of restitution, in kind or equivalent, of buildings unlawfully taken over during the period of the Communist regime in Romania, as amended by Law No 219/2020 amending and supplementing Law No 165/2013.
The provisions found to be unconstitutional are worded as follows:
Article 21 (6): “The valuation of the property covered by the decision shall be carried out by applying the notarial scale valid on the date of entry into force of Law No 165/2013 on measures to complete the process of restitution, whether in kind or equivalent, of immovable property which was unlawfully taken over during the Communist regime in Romania, as amended and supplemented, in the light of the technical characteristics of the property and the category of use on the date on which it was taken over. By way of exception, in files in which compensatory measures are granted to the holder of the title to property, as former owner, or to his/her heirs at law or testamentary legatees, and the right to property has not been traded after the abusive takeover of the property by the State, the valuation of the property covered by the decision shall be made using the notarial grid valid for the year preceding the issue of the decision by the National Commission. The valuation shall be expressed in points. A point has the value of one RON.”
In reaching this decision, the Court found that Article 147 (4) of the Constitution had been infringed, with regard to the general binding effect of decisions of the Constitutional Court, since the legislative text criticised, as amended by Law No 219/2020, took over the legislative solution the unconstitutionality of which was previously established by Decision No 725 of 7 October 2020 on the objection of unconstitutionality of the Law for adoption of Government Emergency Ordinance No 72/2020 suspending the application of the provisions of Article 21 (6) of Law No 165/2013 on measures to complete the restitution process, in kind, or by equivalent of property abusively taken over during the communist regime in Romania, and establishing some transitional measures, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No 959 of 19 October 2020.
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Decisions are final and generally binding.
The arguments set out in the grounds for the decisions of the Constitutional Court will be set out in the decisions, which will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I.
External Relations, Press and Protocol Department of the Constitutional Court