Interruption of the criminal liability limitation term, under the Decision of the Romanian Constitutional Court no. 297/26 April 2018

DEZBATERI

Abstract

The general binding nature of the decisions of the Constitutional Court means that further to the decision to admit the exception of unconstitutionality regarding the legal norm subject to review, the legislative solution, according to which the limitation term of criminal liability was interrupted by fulfilling „any procedural act in the file”, from the content of Article 155 paragraph 1 Criminal Code to no longer be effective, given the absence of any intervention to reconcile the unconstitutional provisions with the provisions of the Constitution by the Parliament or the Government of Romania within 45 days from the  publication of the decision, according to Article 147 paragraph 1 of the Constitution. 
Absent the intervention of the legislator, the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Romania no. 297 of 26 April 2018 may further generate interpretations and discussions on the modality to cease legal relationships of criminal law, as, beyond the clarifications provided to the legal provision subject to review, it has generated and continues to raise a number of case law disputes, noted in the doctrine, but also through the mechanisms of  unification of the judicial practice in Romania.

Keywords: limitation term; interruption; unconstitutionality