Recent significant developments in the judicial field

in the Republic of Moldova

since June 2017

}  By the Decision of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) no. 510/23 of 18 July 2017 the Working Group on the Implementation of the Tools on Court Statistics Collection and Analysis was established. The Working Group has produced the final list of court performance indicators, taking into account national practices as well as CEPEJ recommendations.

}  In its Decision (no. 854/37) of 19 December 2017, the Superior Council of Magistracy adopted the list of indicators for the assessment of judicial performance which shall be systematically used both at the national level and within all courts.  The list of indicators will be incorporated in the new version of the Integrated Program of Case Management (ICMS), which is currently at the development stage and is planned to be implemented at the national level on 1 January 2019.

}   In the current 4.1.3 version of ICMS which is implemented in all first instance courts and courts of appeal a technical tool is available allowing automatic generalization of data contained in the system and calculation of certain court performance indicators recommended by CEPEJ.

}  On l9 and 20 April 2018, by the Superior Council of Magistracy, training seminars were organized for the court staff on the manner of usage, analysis of court performance indicators currently available in ICMS, as well as the pattern used to identify the problems, develop analysis reports with findings, solutions, action plans.

}  On June 1, 2018, amendments to the Civil Procedure Code came into force, according to which the minutes of the hearing were simplified, giving priority to the audio recording of the court hearing.

}  At the same time, the Code was supplemented with a new provision consisting in the fact that any statements of claim, notices of appeal, appeals, applications for review, applications for issue of court orders and any other requests or procedural documents may be filed in court through the Integrated Case Management System (E-file interface), which is unique for the entire judiciary system.

In this case, any application and documents attached to such application in the form of electronic documents shall be signed with qualified advanced electronic signature.

Currently, the option mentioned above is being tested in a pilot court.

}  The use of videoconference is another new provision of the Code.

Thus, in case of impossibility to attend a court hearing, the court may at the request of the participants or a witness or in the office decide upon the hearing of a witness by videoconference. Hearing through videoconference of a witness who is outside the Republic of Moldova shall take place at the headquarters of the diplomatic mission or Consulate of the Republic of Moldova. Hearing through videoconference of a witness who is in the territory of the Republic of Moldova shall take place at a notarial office, at the headquarters of the Probation Office or at the bailiff's office. Hearing through videoconference of a witness serving a sentence in the penitentiaries of the Republic of Moldova shall take place at the penitentiary institution in which such witness serves his / her sentence. Hearing through videoconference of a witness hospitalized in a medical institution who is not able to attend court hearings shall take place within the medical institution if such medical institution holds appropriate technical means and can verify the identity of a witness.

To this end, all courts and three penitentiaries were provided with videoconferencing equipment. Currently, videoconferencing system is tested in several courts and penitentiaries.

}  In the same context, a simplified procedure of small claims was introduced for claims for collecting a sum of money in which the value of the claim does not exceed 10 average salaries per economy, estimated at the date of the court referral.

The procedure for small claims shall be in written.

The judge may order the summons of the participants in the trial if he / she deems it necessary or if he / she accepts the request of one of the parties to examine the request in a public hearing. The judge may reject such a request if he / she considers that, in view of the circumstances of a case, there is no need for public debates.

The court shall settle a case and adopt the decision no later than 6 months from the date of filing an application.

Any court decision may be contested by appeal. The decisions of the Court of Appeal shall not be subject to appeal, being final and irrevocable from the date of rendering such decisions.

}  Also, another rule of the Code stipulates that natural persons can be represented in court by their spouse, parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren if they are licensed in law and are empowered through a power of attorney authenticated by a notary.

}  Also, another rule stipulates that the court may at the request of the interested parties to the proceedings extend the term of proceedings established by the court. The term can be extended for the same reason only once. The term of the proceedings established by law can not be extended.

}  At the same time, amendments to the Family Code came into force on June 1, 2018, according to which, based on the joint consent of the spouses, in cases where there are no disagreements between them regarding the sharing of common property of spouses acquired during their marriage, the maintenance, education and domicile of joint minor children or the maintenance of one of the spouses, the marriage shall be dissolved at the civil status body in a territory where one of the spouses is domiciled. If the spouses have common children and have not reached an agreement on their maintenance, education or domicile, or in the absence of consent to the divorce of one of the spouses, the marriage shall be divorced by judicial procedure.