Romania: Changes to the law concerning administrative disputes

Background
The law on administrative disputes (law 554/2004) has undergone relevant changes which will have a significant impact on administrative procedural law. Some of the relevant changes are to be shown below.

Relevant changes to the law 554/2004
According to the amended law, a person who was damaged by an administrative act that was not issued against this person can now file an objection against the corresponding administrative act within 6 months from the time of being notified by the authority that issued the administrative act.

Another relevant amendment to the law concerns the procedure for lawsuits and regulates that such grounds for contestation can also be submitted within the framework of the court proceedings which were not already submitted during the objection proceedings.

Measures were also taken that aim to accelerate the court proceedings. The first court date must now be determined on the day the suit is filed. The court preliminary proceedings must be carried out by the date determined by the court on the day of filing. In addition, the authorities are now obligated to submit all of these supporting documents or documents to the court together with the statement of defence.

Conclusion
The changes made by the legislator and other above-mentioned changes are assessed to be positive. In particular, the process-accelerating measures should contribute to shortening corresponding proceedings that are often very lengthy in practice.

Authors: Helge Schirkonyer & Mihai Turcu