At the hearing of 8 April 2021, the Constitutional Court, in the context of the review of laws following promulgation, unanimously upheld the exception of unconstitutionality and found that the provisions of Article 55 ind.1 of Law 254/2013 on the enforcement of custodial sentences and measures involving deprivation of liberty ordered by judicial bodies in the course of criminal proceedings were unconstitutional, in the interpretation given by Decision No 7 of 26 April 2018 of the High Court of Cassation and Justice — the Panel entrusted with the settlement of questions of law in criminal matters.
The Court found a violation of the constitutional provisions of Article 1 (5), according to which, in Romania, compliance with the Constitution, its supremacy and laws is mandatory and of Article 15 (2), under which the law provides only for the future with the exception of more favourable law laying down penal or administrative sanctions.
The Court found that, by pronouncing Decision No 7 of 26 April 2018, the High Court of Cassation and Justice — the Panel entrusted with the settlement of questions of law in criminal matters conferred an unforeseeable nature on the provisions of Article 55 ind.1, which has implications for the person in respect of whom conditional release was ordered before the entry into force of Law No 169/2017, since that person is unable to know the date on which the sentence will be deemed to have been executed and, consequently, to adapt his conduct. Thus, the person in respect of whom conditional release was ordered before the entry into force of Law No 169/2017 is unable to reasonably assess the consequences of his acts, in breach of the constitutional provisions of Article 1 (5).
At the same time, the Court held that, by the interpretation given by the High Court of Cassation and Justice — the Panel entrusted with the settlement of questions of law in criminal matters, the provisions of Article 55 of Law No 254/2013 were converted from criminal executive law rules into substantive criminal rules, in breach of Article 15 (2) of the Constitution.
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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.
External Relations, Press and Protocol Department of the Constitutional Court