I. At the hearing of 5 May 2022, the Constitutional Court, in its review of laws subsequent to promulgation, by a majority vote, upheld the exception of unconstitutionality and found that Law No 7/2021 amending Law No 96/2006 on the Statute of Deputies and Senators was unconstitutional.
The Court noted that, according to Article 76 (3) of the Constitution, “At the request of the Government or on its own initiative, Parliament may adopt draft laws or legislative proposals under urgency procedure established in accordance with the rules of each Chamber”. According to the Constitution, the shortening of procedural deadlines and the acceleration of the legislative process must take place solely under the urgency procedure [Article 76 (3)] and not also under the general procedure (Article 75). However, the contested law was adopted under the general procedure on a single day, in breach of all the time-limits, which affects the adoption procedure as a whole. Compliance with Articles 75 and 76 (3) of the Constitution constitutes the basis for democratic debate in Parliament, which, through its value substrate, involves an exchange of ideas between those exercising national sovereignty. Avoiding or limiting parliamentary debates by unduly shortening the time limits, without complying with the objective and express constitutional requirements to that effect, denotes a breach of the very fundamental value of the State, namely its democratic character. In that context, the Court also found that there had been a breach of the principle of legal certainty.
The Court therefore found that there had been an infringement of the constitutional provisions of Article 1 (3) with regards to democracy, of Article 1 (5) with regards to legal certainty of the individual, and of Articles 75 and 76 (3) on the conduct of the parliamentary procedure for the adoption of laws.
The decision is final and generally binding.
The arguments set out in the grounds for the decision of the Constitutional Court will be set out in the decision, which will be published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I.
II. At the same hearing, the Constitutional Court postponed to 26 May 2022 the case concerning the objection of unconstitutionality of the Law amending Government Ordinance No 2/2001 on the legal regime of administrative offences and Law No 286/2009 on the Criminal Code, objection raised by the Advocate of the People.
The External Relations, Press and Protocol Department of the Constitutional Court of Romania