Parliament re-examined on Thursday 17 August the draft law on the external evaluation of judges and prosecutors. It comes after President Maia Sandu failed to promulgate the law and returned it to the legislature for amendments.                          

The letter of review sent to Parliament by President Maia Sandu states that “the exercise of external evaluation is accompanied by a multitude of risks and legislative counterbalances are needed to reduce them”.                         

“What is stipulated in the review request is to harmonize the provisions of the law on the evaluation of all judges and prosecutors with the provisions of the law on the evaluation of judges of the Supreme Court of Justice regarding the criterion of ethical integrity, which was different in the two laws,” said Olesea Stamate, chairwoman of the Committee on Legal Affairs, Appointments and Immunities.               

At the same time, the evaluation committees for judges and prosecutors will take into account irrevocable court decisions, except those which are considered arbitrary or manifestly unreasonable. In addition, decisions of the Superior Council of Magistrates (SCM) and the Superior Council of Prosecutors (SCP) will also be subject to appeal by the evaluation commission, not only by the subjects under evaluation. Appeals will be lodged with the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), where they will be examined within 30 days by a panel of the top three judges who passed the evaluation and did not serve in the SCJ until 31 December 2022.                   

The legislative initiative providing for the external evaluation of judges and prosecutors was adopted by Parliament at the end of July. The draft law is the third stage of the vetting mechanism and the final stage of the reform of the justice system. It is, according to Parliament, also one of the basic conditions resulting from the Moldova-EU Association Agreement.