Parliament revises judicial map of Moldova

Chisinau, 30 May /MOLDPRES/ - The judicial map of Moldova has been revised. The parliament voted the draft law which stipulates this in the final reading today. The document sees the reorganization of law courts and the courts of appeal, in order to improve the quality of the justice act and ensure the rational use of public money.    

The draft law was worked out by the Justice Ministry, having at the basis ‘’the report on the evaluation of the judicial reform,’’ carried out within a project backed by EU. The recommendations of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice were taken into account at the elaboration of this draft law.  

At the revision of the judicial map, decision-makers took into account a string of aspects, such as the creation of big enough law courts, which are to ensure the setting up of panels of judges and the specialization of judges, the volume of work of the law courts, costs, etc. Thus, they suggest that 14 courts should remain out of the total number of 15. The draft law also proposes the reconfiguration of the courts of appeal: the Centru Court of Appeal (Chisinau), North Court of Appeal (Balti), South Court of Appeal (central headquarters – Cahul, secondary headquarters - Comrat).     

Between the first and the second readings, the document was subjected to a comprehensive process of public consultations, in which representatives of public administration authorities competent in the field, of the Ombudsman, Superior Council of Magistracy, Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia and the civil society participated. At the same time, the Promo-LEX Association organized in Varnita a round table, during which the participants discussed the ensuring of the access to justice for the residents from the left bank of Dniester and the Bender municipality, following the change of the judicial map.

Respectively, an MP of the Action and Solidarity Party faction, Artemie Catanoi, proposed an amendment which envisages that the Bender headquarters will continue its work till 31 December 2030, in order to facilitate the access to justice of the citizens from the left bank of Dniester.    

The draft’s authors say that the draft’s goal is not to cut or increase the number of judges or employees of the law courts and courts of appeal. Also, the judges and employees from the headquarters redistributed to other courts will continue to work at the present working place. The only difference is that, from the administrative viewpoint, he/she will be regarded as working at other courts.   

According to statistics data, in 2023, the national courts had over 353,000 files under procedure. Most of them, 122,846 files, were at the Chisinau Court, and 43,177 files – at the Chisinau Court of Appeal. The smallest volume of work at the first-level law courts was recorded at the Criuleni Court and Anenii Noi Court. As for the courts of appeal, the smallest number of files was registered at the Comrat Court of Appeal.