Forum of Judges from Romania, message about judges who do not have cases to work, but also about those who are overloaded / “A solution” according to the Italian model

The Romanian Judges' Forum Association asks the Superior Council of the Magistracy to urgently regulate the work in the judicial system and establish concrete measures to reduce the differences in workload between the various courts. In the appeal sent to the CSM, the magistrates point out that it is not natural to have overloaded judges and others with much less activity.

Given the “personnel crisis in the judicial system and the budgetary restrictions affecting the judiciary”, the “Forum of Romanian Judges” Association (AFJR) shows that any delay in the concrete regulation of the regulation of the work of magistrates is harmful to the quality of the judicial act, which must not involve a judicial “hey-rupt”, but solutions to ensure real, predictable and coherent justice for its recipients, the citizens, the AFJR press release states

Achieving a quality justice act, emphasizes AJFR, involves allocating the minimum time necessary to study the cases, analyze the legal issues and the constantly changing legislation, and not pronounce some solutions that can be erroneous, due to lack of time and overload, the way in which the judge's activity is quantified without surprising the real size of the effort made.

The optimal volume of activity must be considered based on objective criteria, which can be used to determine the degree of difficulty/complexity of the various cases, draws the attention of the professional association of judges in a press release sent on Monday.

Judges complain of overload

AFJR representatives claim that the psychological tests carried out over time showed a high level of request of the evaluated judges, the causes being the workload and the degree of complexity of the hearings.

“The psychological consequences, consisting in the reduction of the ability to concentrate at the end of the meeting day and the appearance of changes in the personal factor (decrease in autonomy and personal stability) highlight the effects of overstrain manifested over time. Measurements were carried out that followed the distribution over time according to the degree of complexity and measurements to reduce the level of neuropsychic overstrain through stress management sessions or training of some skills”. it is also stated in the AFJR press release.

“Regulating mandatory mediation in Romania can be a solution”

AJFR believes that legislative proposals are necessary to re-evaluate the jurisdiction of the courts according to the value of the object of the cases or the object itself, but a model of distribution of files, in overload conditions, derogating from the principles of competence of the civil procedure, to courts of the same degree, very close territorially, within the range of the same tribunal or the same court of appeal, can also be adopted, at least until the balance or convergence of the related workload.

The introduction of mandatory mediation in certain civil files is, in AFJR's opinion, one of the solutions that would lead to the efficiency of the courts.

“The regulation of mandatory mediation in Romania can be a solution that the Superior Council of the Magistracy urgently requests from the legislative/executive power, supported by CJEU rulings, in order to avoid convictions at the European Court of Human Rights determined by the natural delays in the settlement of civil cases lato sensu (in the broadest sense no), in the current coordinates of the acute lack of personnel in the judicial system”, notes AJFR in the appeal sent to the CSM.

In support of this proposal, the association points to an order of the Court of Justice of the European Union which does not oppose a national regulation according to which recourse to mediation, before or after the start of the judicial procedure, is mandatory.

The AJFR mentions which are the disputes in which mandatory mediation could be legislated:

• the causes in the field of consumer protection, when the consumer invokes the existence of a prejudice as a result of the purchase of a defective product or service, the non-compliance with the contractual clauses or the guarantees granted, the existence of abusive clauses included in the contracts concluded between consumers and economic operators or the violation of other rights provided for in national or European Union legislation in the field of consumer protection;

• in certain family law cases;

• in the field of disputes regarding possession, demarcation, displacement of borders, as well as in any other disputes concerning neighborhood relations;

• in the field of professional liability in which professional liability can be engaged, respectively malpractice cases, to the extent that no other procedure is provided for by special laws;

• in labor disputes arising from the conclusion, execution and termination of individual employment contracts;

• in civil disputes whose value is below 100,000 lei, with the exception of disputes in which an enforceable decision was issued to open insolvency proceedings, of actions related to the trade register.

AJFR mentions that Romania could adopt Italy's model regarding mandatory mediation, where the costs for the first session are borne by the state.