The right to a fair trial in proceedings challenging the minutes of disputing contraventions

• Author: Balasoiu Adriana Florina
• Position: Faculty of Law, Law Department University of Craiova, Craiova - Romania
• Pages: 7-12

AGORA International Journal of Juridical Sciences, www.juridicalj ournal.univagora.ro

ISSN 1843-570X, E-ISSN 2067-7677

No. 2 (2013), pp. 7-12

7

THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL IN PROCEEDINGS CHALLENGING

THE MINUTES OF DISPUTING CONTRAVENTIONS

A. F. Bloiu

Adriana-Florina Bloiu

Faculty of Law, Law Department

University of Craiova, Craiova, Romania

*Correspondence: Adriana-Florina Bloiu, University of Craiova, 13, A.I. Cuza St.,

Craiova, Romania

E-mail: afbalasoiu@gmail.com / adi_baf@yahoo.com

Abstract

The offenses field is assimilated to the criminal one from the perspective of the

European Court of Human Rights, in the sense of article 6 of the Convention, the person

accused of committing an act regarded in national law as an offense must benefit from the

guarantees specific to criminal proceedings.

Keywords: the right to a fair trial, contravention, access to justice.

Introduction

The legal regime of contraventions is regulated by Romanian Government Ordinance

no. 2/2001. This regulation represents common law on the matter and is supplemented by

various other regulations: of the public acquisitions field – Romanian Government

Emergency Ordinance no. 34/2006, of traffic on public roads – Romanian Government

Emergency Ordinance 195/2002, of accounting – Law no. 82/1991, of companies – Law no.

31/1990, of the fiscal field – The fiscal code and fiscal procedure, of labor contracts – Labor

Code, of urban planning – Romanian Government Emergency Ordinance no. 7/2011 which

modifies and supplements Law no. 350/2001 regarding land use and urban planning.

An action may be identified as an offense only if the following conditions apply

simultaneously: 1. there is an action; 2. there is a willful violation of the law; 3. the offense is

set and punishable by legal rule; 4. the legal norm is enforced by a public authority

empowered by law.

Common law procedure to challenge the minutes of the offense by contravention

complaint is made under the provisions of art. 31 of the Romanian Government Ordinance.

The deadline to introduce the complaint is 15 days from the date of the minutes (if the

offender is present at the time of drawing up the minutes and receives a copy) or from the date

of its communication (if the offender was not present during the drawing up of the minutes or

being present, the offender has not received a copy of the minutes). The term shall be

calculated on days off, without taking into account the first and last day of the period.

The persons who can file complaints are: the offender, the victim and the owner of the

seized goods, other than the offender.

The complaint of the plaintiff may relate to just the compensation, and the owner of

the seized goods, other than the offender, may appeal only in respect of the seizure.

The constitutional provision that must be mentioned is article 15, paragraph (2), by

which it is disposed that the law is not retroactive, except for the more favorable criminal or

contravention law. The association of the two (criminal and contravention) serves as starting

point for the circumscription of the contravention matter in the area protected by article 6 of