ROMANIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Cosmin Vasile and Alina Tugearu, Zamfirescu Racoți Vasile & Partners Attorneys At Law
As a rule, appeals follow the hierarchy of the courts. For example, a claim settled in the first instance by the first court will be subject to a first appeal at the tribunal and, if the case requires it (depending on its nature), a second appeal at the Court of Appeal. Similarly, a claim settled in the first instance by the tribunal will be subject to a first appeal at the Court of Appeal and (depending on its nature) to a second appeal at the High Court of Justice. These procedural stages cannot be omitted during the course of the appeals process. 10.3 Procedure for Taking an Appeal The procedure for judging an appeal is governed by the rules regulating the settlement of the first tiers of jurisdiction, to which a few derogations apply. As a general rule, the request for appeal has to be filed within 30 days after the communication of the first-court judgment to the parties. The appeal is filed to the first-tier court, which will transmit the appeal and the entire file to the superior court. The court proceeds to communicate the appeal to the respondent, who is granted a term of 15 days to submit their statement of defence. The statement of defence is then communicated to the appellant, who may submit an answer within ten days after its receipt. The written submission phase is followed by the oral phase, which is comprised of judicial inquiry and debates. The next phase of civil proceedings is the issuance of the judgment, which may be succeeded by a second appeal (if admissible), which has to be filed within 30 days from the communication of the ruling or enforcement procedure. The duration of the appeal largely depends on the complexity of the case, the means of evidence to be administered and the preliminary aspects invoked by the parties. As such, the settlement of an appeal may take from one month to several years, calculated from the date of the first hearing. 10.4 Issues Considered by the Appeal Court at an Appeal In Romania, appeal is the ordinary means of challeng- ing a judgment. Filing an appeal triggers a rehearing
of the entire case, unless the parties chose to limit the part of the judgment to be reheard, by means of the appeal filed. New evidence may be proposed by parties by means of the appeal or the statement of defence, and the court itself may order the re-admin- istering or supplementation of the evidence adminis- tered in the first court. As a general rule, the parties may not bring new claims by means of an appeal, nor change the object or cause of the claim. However, in the appeal stage, the parties may explicitly detail claims that were only implicitly included in the claims/defences raised in the first court. As an exception, parties may also request the following for the first time at the appeal stage: • the interest and rates accrued after the issuance of the ruling of the first court; • claims that became outstanding after the issuance of the first court ruling; or • damages incurred after the ruling of the first court was issued. Parties may also invoke legal set-off for the first time at the appeal stage. The second appeal is considered an extraordinary means of challenging a judgment. The grounds of the second appeal need to fall within certain categories of grounds expressly stipulated by the law, which gen- erally concern the legal aspects of the ruling and not the factual side. New forms of evidence may not be proposed by parties before the second appeal court, except for new documents, which need to be submit- ted attached to either the second appeal request or the statement of defence. 10.5 Court-Imposed Conditions on Granting an Appeal Once the general conditions for filing an appeal are met and the appeal is granted, the court cannot impose any conditions on, or pursuant to, such granting. 10.6 Powers of the Appellate Court After an Appeal Hearing After hearing an appeal, the court may:
964 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook