EN    EN EN 
 
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 22.07.2009 
SEC(2009) 1073 
SUPPORTING DOCUMENT 
Accompanying the 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIA MENT AND THE COUNCIL 
 
On Progress in Romania under the Co-op eration and Verification Mechanism 
   
ROMANIA: Technical Update  
    
{COM(2009) 401 final}  
 
EN 2   EN TABLE OF CONTENTS 
1. Benchmark 1: Ensure a more transparent and efficient judicial process notably by 
enhancing the capacity and accountability of  the Superior Council of Magistracy. 
Report and monitor the impact of the ne w civil and penal procedures codes.............. 3 
• Implement any necessary measures, including those provided for in the rel evant Action Plan of the 
Superior Council of the Magistracy adopted in June 2006, that ensure a consistent interpretation 
and application of the law at all levels of court throughout the country following adequate 
consultation with practising judges, prosecutor s and lawyers; monitor the impact of recently-
adopted legislative and administrative measures  
• Design and implement a rational and realistic staffing model for the justice system on the basis of 
the ongoing needs assessment 
• Develop and implement a plan to restructure th e Public Ministry that addresses the existing 
managerial shortcomings and human resources issues 
• Monitor the impact that the newly-adopted amendments to the Civil and Criminal Procedure 
Codes have on the justice system so that any neces sary corrective measures can be incorporated in 
the planned new Codes 
• Report and monitor on the progress made, as regards adopting the new Codes including adequate 
consultations and the impact it will have on the justice system 
• Enhance the capacity of the Superior Council of Magistracy to perform its core responsibilities as 
well as its accountability. In particular, address the potential conflicts of interest and unethical 
actions by individual Council members. Recruit judicial inspectors, according to the newly-
adopted objective criteria, who should also have a greater regional representation 
2. Benchmark 2: Establish, as foreseen, an integrity agency with responsibilities for 
verifying assets, incompatibilities and potenti al conflicts of inte rest, and for issuing 
mandatory decisions on the basis of whic h dissuasive sanctions can be taken ........... 8 
• Adopt legislation establishing an effective and independent integrity agency with responsibilities 
for verifying assets, potential incompatibilities and conflicts of interest, as well as issuing 
mandatory decisions on the basis of which dissuasive sanctions can be taken 
• Establish such a National Integrity Agency; ensure it has the necessary human and financial 
resources to fulfil its mandate 
3. Benchmark 3: Building on pr ogress already made, continue to conduct professional, 
non- partisan investigations into alle gations of high- level corruption...................... 10 
• Continue to provide a track record of profession al and non-partisan inves tigations into high-level 
corruption cases 
• Ensure the legal and institutional stability of th e anti-corruption framework, in particular by 
maintaining the current nomination and revocation procedure for the General Prosecutor of 
Romania, the Chief Prosecutor of the National Anti-Corruption Directorate and other leading 
positions in the general prosecutor's office 
4. Benchmark 4: Take further measures to  prevent and fight ag ainst corruption, in 
particular within the local government ...................................................................... 13 
• Assess the results of the recently-concluded aw areness-raising campaigns and, if necessary, 
propose follow-up activities that focus on the sectors with a high risk of corruption 
• Report on the use of measures to reduce the opportunities for corruption and to make local 
government more transparent, as well as on the sanctions taken against public officials, in 
particular those in local government  
Note: 
Under each of the four benchmarks, several issues of particular concern were mutually agreed when the 
Cooperation and Verification Mechanism was created in  December 2006. These issues are listed above under 
each benchmark and have been addresse d as far as progress has been report ed. You may consult previous reports  
at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/cvm/index_en.htm  
 
EN 3   EN1. BENCHMARK 1: ENSURE A MORE TRANSPARENT AND EFFICIENT JUDICIAL 
PROCESS NOTABLY BY ENHANCING TH E CAPACITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 
OF THE SUPERIOR COUNCIL OF MAGISTRACY . REPORT AND MONITOR THE 
IMPACT OF THE NEW CIVIL AND PENAL PROCEDURES CODES . 
Jurisprudence The appeal in the interest of the law, determined by the High Court of Cassation and 
Justice (HCCJ), remains the main tool fo r unifying jurisprudence. Between August 
2008 and May 2009 24 appeals in the interest of the law were lodged, 22 by the General Prosecutor and 2 by the leading board s of Courts of Appeal. By the end of 
April 2009 the HCCJ had admitted nine of th ese appeals and rejected one. Most of the 
decisions had not yet been motivated.  
The decisions of the HCCJ in the appeals in the interest of the law, once determined 
and the motivation published, are binding upon all courts. It therefore remains the 
most tangible tool in enforcing a coherent jurisprudence. However, the procedures are 
restrictive and time consuming. In addition, in many cases the HCCJ does not act as a 
proper Court of Cassation in char ge of the interpretation of the law but as a third (and 
sometimes first) degree of jurisdiction. This does not allow the HCCJ to play fully the 
usual role of a Supreme Court, which is to ensure a uniform application of law. 
Appeals in the interest of the law are deci ded by the General assembly of the HCCJ 
composed of at least two-thirds of the 120 members of the Court.  Even if decisions 
are given in relatively short time (2 months  in average), the motivation process which 
takes place in a second stage is long (som etimes more than 1 year) and extremely 
cumbersome as all participating judges ha ve to agree to the final motivation. The 
result might often be unclear motivation as a result of a difficult compromise process. 
This undermines the efficiency and tr ansparency of this mechanism.  
Various other measures have also been taken to assist with the delivery of consistent 
jurisprudence. These include various trainings
1 and significant steps to increase the 
publication of court decisions. In February  2009 the Superior Council of Magistracy 
(SCM) signed an agreement with the Vran cea Tribunal to estab lish a national portal 
for the publication of all court decisions. This website is now progressively being 
populated with court decisions. This will ensu re the full jurisprudence of courts are 
published and accessible to all increasing tr ansparency in the act of justice.  
Progress is therefore being made but reports of contradictory juri sprudence, including 
within the HCCJ, continue. It is important th at efforts are maintained and intensified. 
There will be opportunities in the draft new Procedure Codes to address some of the 
problems with the efficiency of the legal tools for the unification of jurisprudence. 
                                                 
1 The HCCJ has organised forty-four meetings in different Courts of Appeal to discuss different 
points of law where non-unitary practice is more prevalent. Eighteen seminars on non-unitary 
practice were also organised by the National In stitute of Magistracy, with further seminars 
organised on a decentralised basis. 
 
EN 4   ENStaffing 
A Human Resources Strate gy 2008-2011 was adopted by the SCM in November 
2008. This detailed recruitment and training needs and measures to meet, as well as 
briefly detailing ini tiatives underway to improve th e efficiency of the system. 
However, the human resourcing situation remains a concern and this Strategy failed to 
propose emergency solutions such as the te mporary reallocation of staff to tackle 
pressing staff shortfalls. Nor did it pr ovide a clear timetable for the necessary 
reorganisation of courts and prosecutors’ offices. 
On 26 February 2009 the SCM supplemented this Strategy with additional actions 
including identifying courts and prosecu tors’ offices with acute resourcing 
difficulties, reviewing secondments and in  the long run seeking to improve the 
efficiency of courts and prosecutors’ o ffices by balancing personnel schemes with 
workloads and transferring administrative  tasks to auxiliary personnel. This 
acknowledgement of the need for both short term, temporary solutions but also longer 
term structural reform is to be welcomed. However, it is important these intentions are 
pursued with suitable vigour.  
So far some temporary measures have been  taken. Sixty-five secondments have been 
cancelled, and a working group has been cr eated to analyse personnel schemes and 
workloads. This working group has recomm ended the redistribution of 18 vacant 
judge positions, and the earmarking of 38 further positions for redistribution when 
they become vacant. Forty-six vacant prosecutor positions have also been re-distributed, and 25 positions tran sferred from military prosecut ors’ offices to civilian 
prosecutors’ offices
2. However, excluding the positions transferred from the military 
prosecutors’ offices, there has been no vertical redistribution of vacant positions and promotion contests have recently been held that have filled vacant positions at higher 
courts and prosecutors offices that could ha ve been redistributed. No needs analysis 
appears to have taken place in these cases. This is despite signi ficant variations in 
workload with significantly higher worklo ads at lower (Courts of First Instance / 
Tribunal) level courts a nd prosecutors’ offices. The procedure for cancelling 
secondments has also been changed, to re move the possibility from the seconding 
institution to request the return of their seconded judge or prosecutor.  
The system continues to face major chal lenges. Between 1 May 2008 and 1 May 2009 
287 judges and 205 prosecutors left the ma gistracy, the vast majority through 
retirement. More magistrates retired in th e first five weeks of 2009 than the Human 
Resources Strategy envisaged would leave in the entire year. There remains a 
significant pool of magistrates who meet the retirement conditions and could, 
theoretically, reti re at any point.
3 Efforts need to be made to limit the uncertainty this 
causes for human resourcing management. At the same time it necessitates significant 
recruitment merely to cover exits from the system. Between 1 May 2008 and 1 May 
2009 181 judges and 202 prosecutors entered the system, a net deficit of 106 judges 
                                                 
2 14 positions were redistributed to Prosecutors’ Of fices attached to Courts of First Instance and 
11 placed as a special reserve at the disposal of the General Prosecutor. 
3 As of May 2009 483 judges and 288 prosecutors complied with the requirements provided for 
by the law to be entitled to a retirement pension. It is unknown how many of these magistrates 
have obtained pension decisions. 
 
EN 5   ENand 3 prosecutors. Figures are better for the 12 months to 1 June 2009, which take 
into account the distribution of recent Na tional Institute of Magistracy (NIM) 
graduates and successful candidates from the spring 2009 direct entry exam, and 
therefore may be more represen tative of recent SCM efforts.4 However it is clear the 
system is in a state of flux5 and is struggling to cope with  covering the total turnover.  
At the same time total vacancy levels for execution positions remain high in 
prosecutors’ offices (19%) and are high for leading positions in both courts (29%) and 
prosecutors’ offices (34%).6 The distribution of vacancies is also uneven with higher 
vacancy levels at lower level courts a nd prosecutors’ offices, despite the higher 
workload and there are acute problems in certain locations.7 More fundamentally, 
workload continues to vary significantly be tween different locations irrespective of 
vacancies and a full re-dimensioning of the personnel scheme, to allocate personnel 
according to workloads and enhance efficienc y, has not yet taken place. Efforts must 
continue to be made to address these problems.  
The initiative to transfer ad ministrative tasks to auxili ary personnel remains a pilot. 
An EU funded project to improve court ma nagement and to introduce the concept of 
the court manager commenced in November  2008, with a pilot set to commence this 
summer. Consideration should be given to ra tionalising the territori al distribution of 
courts and prosecutors’ offices.8 In short, despite some small steps, significant work 
remains to be done to move towards a ra tional and realistic resourcing model.  
Public Ministry  
The plan to restructure the Public Mini stry was completed in 2007. The 2008 Activity 
report of the Public Ministry was presen ted on 4 March 2009. The priorities for 2009 
include an enhanced focus upon combating corruption as well as other economic and financial crimes, assets recovery and the unification of jurisprudence of prosecutors’ 
offices. Other priorities include participa ting in discussions on the draft new Codes, 
filling management positions, improving managerial activity and implementing a 
coherent strategy for public communications. 
Further restructuring of the Public Ministry remains nece ssary and continues to be 
actively pursued by the Gene ral Prosecutor. Workload and performance varies 
significantly between prosecutors’ offices and vacancy levels remain high. However, these efforts are hampered by the fact that recruitment, evaluation, promotion, 
                                                
 
4 Between 1 June 2008 and 1 June 2009 231 judges and 282 prosecutors were recruited. 
Comparable figures for exits for the same time period are not available, but compared to the 
exit figures for the 12 months to 1 May 2009 these figures show a deficit in judges of 56 
positions but an increase in 77 prosecutors.  
5 For the thirteen months from May 2008 to June 2009 (effectively covering two years output 
from the National Institute of Magistracy and spring direct entry exams) 690 new magistrates 
entered the system, effectively 10% of the total magistracy. 
6 In total as of the 1 May 2009 there were 3 16 (8%) vacant execution positions for judges and 
340 (19%) vacant execution pos itions for prosecutors. There were 187 (29%) vacant leading 
positions for judges and 168 (34%) vacant leading positions for prosecutors. 
7 The Prosecutors’ Offices in Bacau and Satu  Mare have 75% of their positions vacant. 
8 There are currently twenty-eight  prosecutors’ offices with only one or two prosecutors in post. 
 
EN 6   ENsanctioning and transfer of st aff are the final responsibilities of the SCM, who have 
not embraced the propositions made by the Public Ministry.  
The only redistribution of pos itions that took place was betw een prosecutors’ offices 
of the same level. This means that it has not  been possible to tackle the inequalities in 
workload between prosecutors’ offices of different levels. Acute problems exist at 
certain offices. The General Prosecutor al so sought the support of the Ministry of 
Justice to extend the powers of the Ge neral Prosecutor to make emergency 
detachments but the discussion was so far inconclusive. 
New Codes 
The Government has prioritised the finalisati on of the four codes.  The draft Criminal 
Code, Criminal Procedure Code and Civil Pro cedure Code were sent to Parliament on 
25 February. The Civil Code was sent to  Parliament on 11 March. The Government 
opted to discuss the Codes in special Parliamentary co mmissions, inviting external 
experts and civil society. A number of other meetings we re organised in parallel.  
Following the completion of the work of the special Parliamentary commissions on 
the two substantive codes, which addresse d a number of concer ns (though not all) 
raised by practitioners  and other stakeholders, the G overnment assumed responsibility 
before the Parliament for the new Crimin al and Civil Codes on 22 June providing for 
an expedited adoption procedure. The speci al Parliamentary commissions will now 
consider the accompanying Procedure Codes.  
The Ministry of Justice esta blished a working group in Apri l to undertake the impact 
assessment on all four codes and has asked for the World Bank’s assistance. The full 
impacts on the delivery of justice, and th e financial and human resource implications 
are so far not known. The impact assessment wi ll be especially significant as regards 
the new Procedure Codes, where a ra nge of new innovations are proposed.9 The 
adoption of new Procedure Codes present a real opportunity to improve the 
functioning of the justice system. It will be crucially important that what is finally 
adopted will, in practice, improve the effici ency of the justice system, ensure a more 
predictable outcome, shorten th e length of trials and reduc e the abuse of procedural 
rules as delaying tactics. A real assessmen t of the implications of the draft new 
Procedural Codes is therefore required.  
Superior Council of Magistracy 
                                                 
9 One such innovation is a new legal mechanism aimed to assist in establishing a coherent 
jurisprudence. The new mechanism will allow a ju dge, ex officio or at the request of one of 
the parties, to ask the HCCJ to solve a legal issue relevant to the pe nding case where courts 
have previously delivered inconsistent jurisprudence. The HCCJ’s decision is binding on the 
judge who requested their ruling and also on other courts. The new procedure is intended to 
complement the existing mechanism for lodging appeals in the interest of the law, but is controversial as the trial will be suspended whilst the High Court deliberates. Nor are there 
limitations on the numbers of times this provision could be used during a trial, generating 
fears it will have an adverse impact on the celerity of court proceedings.  
 
EN 7   ENThe SCM possesses the material resources necessary to perform its functions. 
Excluding the judicial inspect ion 92% of its posi tions are occupied and for 2009 it has 
received a budget increase of 6.9%. This contrasts to budget cuts elsewhere within the 
justice system.  
The SCM has taken elementary steps to wards enhancing its transparency and 
accountability. This has included the publication of vari ous SCM related 
documentation on the SCM website, and period ic meetings with representatives of 
magistrates associations and with civil soci ety. However, concerns continue to be 
raised in terms of their transparency and accountability, including the incomplete 
publications of agenda items and resulti ng decisions (especially in disciplinary 
proceedings). This undermines transparency an d generates concerns as to inconsistent 
decision making. Disquiet amongst the magistra tes they represent has led to general 
assemblies of magistrates ar ound the country opening revo cation procedures against 
some members of the SCM. In an appare nt reply SCM members have become more 
vocal in voicing the concerns and complaints  of the magistrates they represent leading 
them into institutional conflict with the executive. 
The evaluation system introduced by the SCM to assess the performance of 
magistrates appears of que stionable value. As of 6 May 2009 6258 magistrates 
(86.79% of the total) had been evaluate d, of which 99,8% were awarded gradings 
falling within the highest, “very good” ba nd. Magistrates attribute this to the 
structuring of the evaluation criteria but quest ions raised about the impartiality of the 
evaluation commissions have also not been addressed. 
In light of concerns raised as to the composition of the judicial inspection, on 27 
November 2008 the SCM amended the rules for recruiting inspectors to ensure the selection of inspectors resp ected a geographical representa tion within the Inspection. 
However, at the end of 2008, following the re newal of the positions of a number of 
the seconded inspectors without apparent consider ation of the geographical 
representation, the percentage  of inspectors from Buchar est courts and prosecutors’ 
offices was at its highest level si nce 2005. On 26 February 2009 following an 
evaluation the SCM decided to terminate th e secondments of all the inspectors with 
effect from 1 May and to run a new compe tition to recruit inspectors. Twenty-eight 
inspectors were recruited as a result of in terviews held on 7 and 8 April and a further 
recruitment contest is underway  to recruit another twenty -two inspectors. However, 
twenty-one of the tw enty-eight inspectors recruited were reappointments. Despite a 
regional allocation of positions the procedure continues to apparently favour recruits 
from Bucharest. Of the 28 inspectors appoint ed so far, 13 are from Bucharest courts 
and prosecutors offices (w ith 10 – all reappointments – of the 17 judges from 
Bucharest courts). New rules specifically prohibiting inspectors from performing 
inspections of the courts or prosecutors’ o ffices where they previously worked were 
also introduced in November 2008 which may a ssist in reducing conflicts of interest.  
In 2008 the Judicial Inspecti on received 5205 notifications and also commenced 39 ex 
officio investigations.
10 In the first four months of 2009 the Judicial Inspection 
                                                 
10 As a result of their investigations they sent 230 cases to the Discipline Commissions for 
follow-up of which by the end of the year 180 had been closed, 17 sent to the Discipline 
Sections for Judges and Prosecutors and 33 were still pending. 
 
EN 8   ENreceived 1169 notifications and also co mmenced 12 ex officio investigations.11 As a 
result of their work the Discipline Sections for Judges and Prosecutors applied 18 sanctions in 2008 and dismissed 4 cases. The sanctions appl ied included three 
dismissals from the magistracy, one discip linary transfer, ten sa lary reductions and 
four warnings. In the first five months of 2009 they applied 9 sanctions (including 
three dismissals and three salary reducti ons) and dismissed 8 cases. These included 
sanctions applied in some high profile cases. Further recruitment to  bring the judicial 
inspection up to full complement is clearl y required and to allow them to increase 
their inspection capacity. Incidences of in consistent practice within the inspection 
continue to be reported and need to be addressed. Greater transparency is also 
required to ensure confidence in the proce ss from magistrates and citizens alike.  
2. B
ENCHMARK 2: ESTABLISH , AS FORESEEN , AN INTEGRITY AGENCY WITH 
RESPONSIBILITIES FOR VERIFYING ASSETS , INCOMPATIBILITIES AND 
POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST , AND FOR ISSUING MANDATORY 
DECISIONS ON THE BASIS OF WHICH DISSUASIVE SANCTIONS CAN BE TAKEN  
ANI is now operational and has developed a track record of cases . From just forty 
cases under investiga tion in June 2008, as of 22 May 301 investigations had been 
completed and 68 files had been referred to co mpetent institutions for sanctions to be 
applied or for criminal investigation.12 Thirty five of these files have been sent to 
prosecutors’ offices (to investigate possible crim inal offences); four files to courts (to 
confiscate unjustified wealth); and 22 files to discipline committees of various institutions (to apply disciplinary sancti ons for incompatibilities). Preliminary checks 
are currently being carried out by ANI on 2279 persons and 1948 cases are currently 
being processed. ANI has also applied fines to 2080 persons for late or non-
submission of asset and in terest declarations.  
No information is available on the follow up of  the cases referred to prosecutors or to 
disciplinary bodies. In the cour ts the majority of cases ha ndled so far concern appeals 
to fines imposed by ANI for late or non-su bmission of declarations of assets and 
interests.
13 The other cases – more fundamental  to ANI’s ultimate objectives – 
concern applications by the Agency for the confiscation of unj ustified wealth and 
appeals by claimants against th e findings by ANI of incomp atibility and conflicts of 
interests. The initial results achieve d by ANI in the appeals against their 
determinations of incompatibilities and conflicts of interest are promising14 but in 
contrast at this point none of the unjus tified wealth cases has yet reached a first 
decision so it remains untested as to whet her the confiscation of unjustified wealth 
                                                 
11 As a result of which they sent 92 cases to the Discipline Commissions, who have so far have 
closed 65 cases and sent 23 cases to the Di scipline Sections for Judges and Prosecutors. 
12 These include files on two curr ent / former Members of Parliament, three Presidents / Vice 
Presidents of County Councils, ten mayors, 24 county and local councillors, three police 
officers, one judge and the Presid ent of the Competition Council. 
13 Final decisions have been reached in 150 of  the 850 cases, with the initial fine being 
maintained in 30 cases, a reduced fine imposed in 63 cases, a warning in 49 cases and in 8 
cases the penalty cancelled in its entirety. 
14 The Courts have rejected the appeals on fo ur occasions and admitted the appeal on one 
occasion; three other files remain  pending, and the appeal agains t a determination of a conflict 
of interest was rejected but is pending a second appeal. 
 
EN 9   ENwill be constitutional. Eleven other exceptions  of unconstitutionality have been raised; 
in ten cases the exceptions have been reject ed by the Constitutional Court and in the 
eleventh case a decision is pending.  
In these circumstances it will only be possible to fully assess the actual outcomes of 
ANI’s work on the basis of a track record of resulting confiscations of unjustified 
wealth, indictments by prosecutors or disc iplinary sanctions applied by discipline 
committees. However, ANI has established a track record of cases, including a 
significant number of cases  commenced ex officio.15 First indications also suggest 
that the existence of ANI is beginning to have a preventive effect, encouraging the 
submission of more accurate and timely d eclarations of assets and interests. 
Given the so far limited body of experience of the courts handling ANI’s cases, it also 
remains too early to take a definitive view on the adequacy of the legal framework for 
ensuring an effective delive ry upon objectives for which ANI was created. There have 
been no further changes to the ANI lega l framework since the adoption of Law 
94/2008 on 14 April 200816.  
Questions remain as to whether the lega l framework will allow ANI, and specifically 
ANI’s inspectors, to function independently and free from influence. In autumn 2008 
a member of the National Integrity Counc il, attempted to interfere in an ANI 
investigation. ANI repo rted the attempted interference to the Council and ultimately 
the member of the Council resigned. In February 2009, following reports made by 
three whistleblowers concerning the Presid ent of ANI and the Secretary General of 
ANI, the Council established a special discipli nary committee composed of five of its 
members to investigate the report. The comm ittee has not yet completed its report. An 
independent external audit will also shortly be undertaken and will be an important opportunity to review progress, identify  vulnerabilities and to strengthen the 
functioning of the Agency. 
ANI now has 124 members of staff of the 200 provided for by law. The 124 personnel 
include 63 integrity inspectors. Overall th is is an increase by 24 on the number of 
personnel ANI had in post last summer, w ith the increase mainly accounted for by 
additional integrity inspectors recr uited in the second half of 2008.  
ANI was provided with a budget for 2009 of  EUR 4.3 million. In April this was 
reduced by EUR 0.4 million. However as cu rrently provided for the budget for 2009 
remains significantly higher than the fi nal budget ANI received for 2008 (which 
totalled EUR 3 million), reflecting the institutional development of the Agency. The budget is sufficient for the operational needs of the Agency and to provide for the 
procurement of a data processing system. Th e procurement of this system has been 
delayed but is anticipated to be completed this year. The system will assist ANI in developing a more targeted and strategic approach to id entifying vulnerable sectors 
and cases for investigation, assisting in e nhancing the efficiency of ANI’s work.  
                                                
 
15 Thirty five of the sixty eight files finalised and sent to other institutions for follow up were 
commenced by ANI ex officio. 
16 This approved Government Emergency Ordinance Number 49/2007 amending and 
supplementing the ANI law (Law 144/2007). 
 
EN 10   ENFinancial provision is also available for training. ANI ha s established a training 
strategy. Other institutio nal developments include the launching of ANI’s website, the 
drafting of guidelines for completion of a sset and interest declarations, and the 
conclusion of protocols with other auth orities. A strategy for the Agency was 
submitted to the National Integrity Council in June, having originally been envisaged for the beginning of the year. 
3. B
ENCHMARK 3: BUILDING ON PROGRESS ALREADY MADE , CONTINUE TO 
CONDUCT PROFESSIONAL , NON -PARTISAN INVESTIGATIONS INTO 
ALLEGATIONS OF HIGH -LEVEL CORRUPTION  
DNA has maintained its good track  record of inves tigations into hi gh level corruption 
and has sent a significant number of high leve l cases to court. In the nine months (1 
August 2008 – 24 April 2009) DNA opened 176 criminal investigations and issued 115 indictments against 552 defendants. During  the same period the courts ruled 49 
final decisions on DNA files through which 64 defendants were convicted. There 
were 43 non-final decisions, involving the conviction of 71 defendants. Thirty nine 
defendants were acquitted. Howe ver, twenty-four of these acquittals arose as a result 
of the decriminalisation of the relevant offences.  
The cases sent to trial included files c oncerning one former Prime Minister, one 
Minister, one former Minister and current Member of Parliament, two other Members 
of Parliament, two former Members of Pa rliament, eight Mayors and two Presidents 
of County Councils. The nature and number of the files sent to trial by DNA is 
evidence of a continuing posit ive track record of non-partisan  investigations into high 
level corruption. Many investigations are commenced following complaints by 
citizens or exofficio indicating public trust in DNA and also proactive approach to 
opening investigations. 
The opening of criminal invest igations into Ministers or former Ministers requires the 
formal request (and therefore a pproval) of either the Presiden t or, if the individual is a 
Member of Parliament, of their Parliamentar y chamber. In the course of the past 12 
months the Parliament has, at the request of prosecutors , requested the opening of 
investigations in four such corruption cas es. However, the Parliamentary procedures 
have proved lengthy
17. In two cases the opening of the investigations was refused. In 
one of these cases the Parliamentarian subse quently resigned allo wing the opening of 
the criminal investigation (following an a pproval given by the Pres ident) but the other 
case (concerning a former Prime Minister) re mains effectively blocked. In light of a 
Constitutional Court ruling concerning the voting procedure used in rejecting this case
18, the General Prosecutor has asked Parlia ment to reconsider their refusal to 
request the opening of the criminal inve stigation. On 23 June  the Parliament 
                                                 
17 The cases where Parliament even tually approved the opening of criminal investigations took 
respectively 4 months, 7 months, 7 months and 10 months. 
18 The Constitutional Court ruling of 1 October 2008 found unconstitutional the voting 
thresholds concerning such votes, with the existing requirement in the Chamber of Deputies 
requiring a two-thirds majority of all deputies an d in Senate a simple majority of all senators 
considered unconstitutional. As a result the Chamber of Deputies amended their regulations 
on 3 March 2009 and the Senate in May 2009. Both chambers now apply a simple majority of 
those present at such a vote.  
 
EN 11   ENconcluded that this request was inadmissible.  This decision has been challenged to the 
Constitutional Court  
The handling of high level corruption trials by the courts, and in particular the celerity 
of court procedures remains problematic. Of  the 49 final decisions reached each case 
took an average of two year s and 26 hearings. However, there were 6 cases dating 
from 2004 and one from 2003. These are cases th at reached a final decision. As of the 
24 April 2009 there were 462 further DNA cases on trial in various stages of completion. It is striking that virtually none  of the cases of highest public interest 
have yet reached a decision in first instance, let alone a final decision.
19 As of 25 
April 2009, of the twenty-one  cases against current an d former members of the 
Government and of the Parliament sent to trial since 2006, only one of the cases has reached a decision in first instance. Seven of  the cases were sent to court in 2006 and 
five in 2007. Some of these cases had been  suspended on a number of occasions or 
were cases where parliamentary approva l had to be sought retrospectively.  
High level trials are especially lengthy as a result of frequent  defence attorneys` 
requests for delays. Exceptions of unconstitu tionality are frequently raised, as are 
requests to transfer trials from one court to another, sometimes on multiple occasions. 
If admitted by the trial court – and they routinely are
20 – trials are currently suspended 
whilst such issues are determined by the competent court21, even though suspensions 
are only currently mandatory when excepti ons of unconstitutionality are admitted. A 
high number of transfer requests appear to  be being granted by the High Court in 
corruption cases (despite the fact that for all cases the approval rate is only 5%). A 
draft law that would have removed the suspension of trials whilst the Constitutional Court deliberates on exceptions of unconstitu tionality was rejected  by the Senate on 4 
May 2009. The draft law had been widely su pported by the judi ciary and had been 
presented previously by the G overnment as a significant reform measure to accelerate 
and enhance the performance of the judici ary. It would have cut down the abusive 
usage of constitutional exceptions given 98% are currently rejected. A new draft law with the same objective adopted recently by the Government will give the opportunity 
to the Parliament to redress this issue.  
Sentencing data also continue s to raise concerns as to the inconsistent and non-
dissuasive penalties applied by the courts. A comprehensiv e analysis undertaken by 
DNA indicates that of fina l conviction decisions issu ed in 2008, 71% of final 
convictions were with suspension, and 58% of convictions were at the minimum or 
under the special minimum. The draft Criminal  Code as sent to Parliament proposed 
significant reductions in the minimum a nd maximum penalties, including for a 
number of corruption offences so as to  render the overall framework for penalties 
                                                
 
19 Such cases include the case of a former Vice Prime Minister, indicted on 6 June 2006 and on 
trial now for over three years without the indi ctment having yet been read, with activity 
limited to the consideration of procedural issues. The DNA inve stigation in this case lasted 
less than one year.  
20 Reportedly even in circumstances where the Constitutional Court has determined on this point 
and the exception need not be admitted. 
21 The High Court of Cassation and Justice for transfer requests and the Constitutional Court for 
constitutional exceptions. The practice on challenges to the legality of administrative 
decisions is inconsistent. Where admitted the tr ials are being suspended and referred to an 
administrative court. 
 
EN 12   ENmore proportionate and coherent. These cha nges would also have had the effect of 
reducing the statute of limita tions, meaning in practice th at a significant number of 
important corruption cases would have been lost. Following the parliamentary 
discussions the penalties we re raised, reducing these problems, though they remain 
lower than in the current Code.  
A new working group was established by the Ministry of Justice on 21 October 2008 
to elaborate a study into the penalties app lied by the courts for high level corruption 
offences. The working group comprised of j udges and prosecutors, analysed sentences 
applied by the courts in corruption cases from 2004-822. A bilateral project involving 
judges from the UK is also contributing to the considerations. Based on this report, 
the HCCJ might issue a ruling setting up inte rpretative guidance for sentencing in 
corruption cases. 
Stability of the anti-corruption framework 
The stability of the anti-corruption fram ework remains a cause for concern. During 
the last 12 months the stability of the framework was threatened on a number of 
occasions.  
In September 2008 Parliament revived and adopted proposals to amend the 
nomination and revocation procedures for senior prosecutor positions. The amendments were ultimately declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court on grounds related to the Parliamentary proce dure followed in handling the draft law, 
and the draft law was returned to Parliament where it has not been further discussed. However, Parliament’s attempt to change  the nomination and revocation procedures 
ran counter to the obligations Romania took at accession and appears a clear attempt 
to undermine the effectiveness of the system.  
In February 2009 the existing Chief Prosecuto r, who had been fulfilling the functions 
on Chief Prosecutor through a delegation of the General Prosecutor, was appointed 
for a second mandate, ensuring continuity in the management of the DNA. On 30 
June this stability was further strengt hened by reappointing a number of other 
members of DNA’s senior management team.  
Discussions in the context of the draft Cr iminal Code prompted concerns that Law 
78/2000 on the preventing, discovering and sanctioning corruption acts would be 
repealed with parts (but not all) of the Law incorporated into the Criminal Code. In 
addition to leading to a new wave of acquittals in DNA cases due to 
decriminalisations, such a repeal would je opardise the stability of the anti-corruption 
framework. Ultimately the final version of the Code upon which the Government 
assumed responsibility does not touch upon provisions from Law 78/2000.  
                                                
 
22 Their findings confirmed non dissuasive penalties, inappropriate application of mitigating 
circumstances, the high incidence of suspended penalties, inconsistent sentencing and 
inadequate motivations of the court decisions, as  well as problems with training, specialisation 
and the absence of guidelines. Various recommenda tions have been made including legislative 
changes to limit the possibility for the courts to apply suspension of sentences and the 
preparation of guidelines. 
 
EN 13   EN4. BENCHMARK 4: TAKE FURTHER MEASURES TO PREVENT AND FIGHT 
AGAINST CORRUPTION , IN PARTICULAR WITHIN THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT  
After a year of implementation of th e National Anti-Corruption Strategy for 
Vulnerable Sectors and Local Public Ad ministration 2008-10, there has been some 
progress on individual measur es. However, a complete a ssessment of progress is not 
possible. Detailed and verifiable outputs ar e not available and actual tangible results 
are difficult to measure.  
This Strategy provides an opportunity to de liver coherence and focus to efforts to 
prevent and deter corruption, but until now th is seems to have been an opportunity 
that has not been exploited. The Steering Co mmittee intended to oversee the Strategy 
and its action plans, and to make amendmen ts has only met twice in the last 12 
months, rather than the quarterly meeti ngs foreseen. Nor has it considered any 
amendments to the Strategy despite criticisms from civil society as to its coherence and synchronisation. This has all contribute d to the lack of a clear co-ordinated 
assessment of where actions have reach ed and what still needs to be done. 
Furthermore within the Romanian authori ties awareness of the existence of the 
strategy is limited and there is confusion as to its scope. Reforms to the co-ordination 
arrangements being contemplated, including the creation of a tec hnical working group 
to support the Steering Committee, are timely.  
At the level of individual authorities vari ous measures are being taken. These include 
simplification of administra tive procedures, and measures to improve transparency, 
integrity and to reduce opportunities for co rruption. Initiatives underway include the 
phased national role out (not yet complete) of new more secure testing procedures for 
driving licences, as well as the ongoing introduction of a online tool to track applications with the National Agency for Cadastre and Land Registration. Such 
measures are replicated in other sectors, accompanied by other preventative including 
fast-track premium price a pplication procedures, limiting of face-to-face contact with 
citizens, and random assigning of work or rotation of personnel.  A telephone line to 
report problems (including corruption) en countered in the health system was 
established by the Ministry of Health. Desp ite progress in indivi dual instances, the 
nationwide implementation and effectiveness of  these measures is unclear, especially 
at the local level.  
Three further awareness rais ing campaigns have been unde rtaken, all using EU funds. 
One of these campaigns was broad-ranging co-ordinated by the Ministry of Justice, whilst the other two, run by the Anti-Corruption General Directorate (DGA) of the 
Ministry of Administration and Interior (MAI), focuse d on deterring citizens from 
giving bribes.
23 These awareness campaigns have been supplemented with various 
other initiatives, largely undertaken by the DGA who have used various media to 
distribute anti-corruption messa ges. In support of the results achieved from these 
campaigns, the Romanian authorities point to  perception surveys they carried out in 
late 2008 illustrating an increa sed confidence in, and awaren ess of, the anti-corruption 
                                                 
23 The campaigns included road shows, conferences, and the production of various promotional 
materials. The Ministry of Ju stice co-ordinated campaign invo lved awareness raising road 
shows in twelve cities throughout Romania, involving 355 participants. 
 
EN 14   ENactivities of the inst itutions involved in the preventi ng and countering of corruption. 
However, this survey and ot her independent surveys high light continued high levels 
of distrust.24 Outside of the MAI there remain ma ny other vulnerable sectors which do 
not appear to have been especially targeted  by such campaigns and there appears little 
co-ordinated assessment of where further campaigns can maximise their impact. 
The National Integrity Centre has contin ued its work, includi ng the running of 
training courses and the holding of regional anti-corruption debates.25 As a result of 
these debates the Centre has produced  a number of recommendations for 
consideration by the Romanian  authorities but it is unclear in many cases what 
consideration of these recommendations ha s taken place. Civ il society has also 
undertaken a range of useful studies and made recommenda tions. In higher education 
for example a recent study found 77% of stude nts and 35% of teaching staff consider 
corruption in universities as high. The same study also reve aled that only 50% of the 
universities surveyed complie d with the public procuremen t law. The study identified 
problems related to the far reaching in terpretation of university autonomy and 
ineffective control mechanisms.26 Such studies clearly indi cate the need for further 
steps and can usefully inform the institutions own strategies. 
In terms of sanctioning of civil servants, data collected by the National Agency of 
Civil Servants reveals that during 2008 Disciplinary Commissions solved 837 
complaints, imposing 375 sanctions27. The majority of these sanctions were written 
warnings, but did include 38 dismissals. Forty eight cases were also referred for criminal investigation. Surprisingly few of the complaints were made by members of 
the public (just 15%) and only 9 were ma de by whistleblowers. Most of the 
complaints are made by the institutions mana gement or by the head of the institution. 
These statistics are revealing of more gene ral trends. Prosecutors receive surprisingly 
few notifications concerning corruption from  internal control and audit bodies of 
public institutions and in some cases it w ould appear the indepe ndence of the control 
bodies and the infrequency, predictability an d limited focus of controls is problematic. 
Prosecutors also report receiving surprisingl y few notifications from the Court of 
Accounts. Practical implementation and awareness of whistleblower policies 
(especially on their confidentiality) within  institutions needs to be strengthened. 
Significant efforts have been made to strengthen the law enforcement and 
prosecutorial response to corruption. The General Prosecutor has adopted a set of 
measures to increase the effectiveness of  local prosecutors’ offices in corruption 
cases. The measures include the assessment of  performance in this field, production of 
a best practices manual for handling corruptio n investigations, twice yearly exchange 
of experience session with DNA prosecutors, and the devising of a special programme 
of training seminars with the NIM. More over, the centre piece of these measures is 
the requirement upon each county prosecutors’ office to produce their own strategies 
for combating corruption, taking into ac count the specifics of the corruption 
                                                
 
24 Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2009 found that in Romania 69% 
of those surveyed considered anti-corruption meas ures taken by the authorities as inefficient.  
25 Between 1 June 2008 and 30 April 2009 twenty-four debates were held in different counties. 
26 Coalition for Clean Universities – Romanian Academic Society: University Integrity Contest 
(2009). 
27 This data do not distinguish between different types of offences. 
 
EN 15   ENphenomenon in their locality. The strategies aim to deliver a more proactive approach 
to combating petty corruption and to fost er a closer and more dynamic co-operation 
with other law enforcement partners.  
The Fraud Investigation Dire ctorate of the General Insp ectorate of the Romanian 
Police has also prepared an anti-corrupti on measures programme setting out priority 
areas and risk factors as well as objectives  and measures to enhance the institutional 
and functional capacity of the Romanian  Police units involved in countering 
corruption. In December 2008 they finalised an  action plan for tackling corruption in 
procurement in the health sector.  
It remains too early to assess fully the resu lts of these initiatives to strengthen the 
combating of petty corruption but the police are reporting an increase in intelligence leads and notifications to prosecutors
28, whilst there has been an increase in 
indictments made for corruption by local prosecutors’ offices.29 A number of recent 
cases also indicate the emergence of a more  proactive approach by certain offices and 
a greater focus on more complex cases but it is unclear whether this is a more widespread result yet.
30 However, further steps are necessary to strengthen inter-
institutional co-operation, to ensure th e supply of timely and good quality information 
to prosecutors, and timely feedback to  the Police. The introduction of common 
performance indicators is needed.  
DGA has continued its work. Between 1 August 2008 and the end of April 2009 DGA 
submitted 861 files to prosecutors, who comm enced criminal investigations in 216 
files involving 606 persons (258 of whom  were from the MAI), in which DGA’s 
judicial police offi cers were delegated31. During the same period prosecutors indicted 
255 persons (68 persons were from the MAI of  whom the majority (44) were from the 
Romanian Police) in 101 files in whic h DGA had assisted. During the same period 
DGA organised 1894 preventive meetings  attended by 26084 Ministry personnel. 
They also prepared a guide for identifyi ng risks and vulnerabilities to corruption 
within the Ministry and unde rtook an analysis of the risks. An action plan on 
preventing corruption within Director ate for Driving Licences and Vehicle 
Registrations was prepared. By a recent Ministerial order the number of DGA staff 
has been increased by 28% and the internal structure has been reorganised to, amongst 
other motivations, reflect an increased desire to pursue corruption in public 
                                                 
28 In total between 1 August 2008 and 30 April 2009 the Romanian Police detected 884 civil 
servants working in central and local public administration who were investigated in 294 
criminal files for corruption. In the same peri od the Police forwarded to prosecutors 51 files 
concerning 396 people suspected of corruption in the education sector (a 296% increase) and 96 criminal files concerning 521 persons suspected of corruption in the health sector (a 
74.25% increase). It is not known what percentage led to indictments. 
29 In total in the six months from October 2008 – March 2009 the local prosecutors’ offices 
solved 1141 cases leading to 121 indictments. This contrasts to 115 indictments in the first 
nine months of 2008. 
30 One example is an investigation by the Prosecu tors’ Office attached to the Covasna Tribunal 
in cooperation with the DGA, who are inves tigating a case involving 19 police agents 
concerning the fraudulent issuing of driving licences.  
31 During the same period D GA received 841 notifications fr om institutions, 1445 written 
petitions from members of the public (of which 69 became criminal complaints) and 4156 
telephone calls over the TelVerde phone line (of which 12 became crim inal complaints).  
 
EN 16   ENprocurement. Corruption in public procurement is an important issue on which more 
needs to be done across the public sector.  
The Department for the Fight against Fra ud has also continued its administrative 
investigations into the fr audulent abuse of EU funds. Between 1 June 2008 and 15 
March 2009 they had under investigation 128  cases of which 80 cases were finalised 
and in 49 cases potential frauds iden tified and forwarded to the competent 
prosecutors’ office.