EXCESUL DE PUTERE AL CURȚII CONSTITUȚIONALE: NECONSTITUȚIONALITATEA DISPOZIȚIILOR ART. 524 ALIN. (3) C.PR.CIV. REFERITOARE LA COMPETENȚA DE SOLUȚIONARE A CONTESTAȚIEI PRIVIND TERGIVERSAREA PROCESULUI

The new Civil Procedure Code, under the impulse of the case law of the European Court of
Human Rights, has established for the first time, in the Romanian law, a procedural means intended to
be an effective remedy for unjustified tendencies to delay trials: the contestation regarding the delay of
the trial. The present approach was occasioned by a recent decision of unconstitutionality regarding the
application of the provisions of Article 524 (3) of the Civil Procedure Code. In the introduction of this
study, the author makes a general delimitation of the contestation by other procedural means, stating
that it can be qualified neither as means of appeal, nor as a civil action or as a special procedure. The
author emphasizes the contestation’s nature of procedural incident and of means to remove any
obstruction in the settlement of civil cases in an optimal and predictable time limit.
The control of constitutionality carried out by the Court concerns a very concrete aspect of the
competence to settle the contestation. Through the analyzed decision, the court of constitutional
control has appreciated that the settlement of the contestation by the panel notified with the
settlement of the main action is likely to affect the objective impartiality of the court. In the present
approach, the author considers such an action of the court of constitutional control as being
judicious, but expresses reservations regarding the solution of attributing the competence to settle
the contestation to the higher court. In justifying this point of view, the author notes also the existence
of other similar procedural means the settlement of which is given, however, in the competence of a
panel of the court empowered to judge the main action as well. On the other hand, the settlement of
the contestation by the superior court is not likely to provide celerity in its settlement.