INSTANȚELE DE JUDECATĂ AU OBLIGAȚIA, IAR NU FACULTATEA DE A APLICA DECIZIILE CURȚII CONSTITUȚIONALE ASTFEL CUM ACESTEA AU FOST PRONUNȚATE

The courts can not censure the decisions of the Constitutional Court in terms of the statements which they contain with regard to the unconstitutionality of a legal norm and the impact they have on the way of settling the ongoing disputes, respectively not finalized through the pronunciation of some irrevocable judgments, following the cessation of the application of that norm by declaring it unconstitutional. They have the obligation to apply the decisions of the Constitutional Court to their letter and spirit and they can not add by way of interpretation elements that are capable of restricting them or, respectively, to extend their scope. By the Decision of the Constitutional Court No 369/2017 it has been stated that all the judgments pronounced after the publication of the decision in the Official Gazette of Romania are subject to appeal, in the cash assessable applications, except for those exempted according to the criterion of matter, expressly provided in the theses covered by Article XVIII (2) of the Law No 2/2013. In the application of this decision, the High Court of Cassation and Justice – the Panel for the settlement of some matters of law, by the Decision No 52/2018 has stated that the effects of the decision of unconstitutionality will concern all judgments pronounced after the date of its publication, but in trials commenced after 20 July 2017. By this statement, the decision of the Constitutional Court No 369/2017 has been amended without justification under the pretext of the settlement of the matter of law concerning the application of that decision over time. By the Decision of the Constitutional Court No 454/2018 it was established that the High Court of Cassation and Justice does not have the power to rule on the effects of the decision of the Constitutional Court or to give binding rulings which are contrary to the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but has the obligation to apply that decision in such a way suitable to its considerations to the case subjected to judgment. The Decision No 454/2018 has an interpretative character and therefore, by way of derogation from the principle according to which the decisions of the Constitutional Court apply only for the future, it has a retroactive effect, in the sense that it is put into application from the date when the Decision of Constitutional Court No 369/2017 began to take effect.