Dolj Bar Association – Statement concerning the legislative proposal for the modification and completion of the Government Ordinance no. 2/2000 concerning the organisation of the technical judicial and extrajudicial expertise activity

The Dolj Bar Association draws attention to the Project to modify and complete the Government Ordinance no. 2/2000 concerning the organisation of the technical judicial and extrajudicial expertise activity which in this period is listed on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies, concerning the fact that some provisions may have a long term negative impact on the quality of the judicial process.

As long as the technical judicial experts represent a partner in the judicial process and their activity has an essential role in the rulings of the courts of law, it is expected that the framework law for the organisation of this profession provides sufficient guarantees.

In this respect, we appreciate that the provisions which allow the access to the profession of technical judicial expert on the basis of an interview (article 7) are totally inappropriate, (while the present version of the law provides that the only access to this profession is by passing an exam) and also provides that the candidate must have a seniority of minimum 3 years in the domain for which he applies in order to become a technical judicial expert, period that we consider to be insufficient, much more appropriate being, in our opinion, a period of 5 years in order to acquire the necessary minimum experience.

At the same time, we consider it would be opportune to insert a new paragraph to article 22 of the Project which provides the obligation for the technical judicial experts that, once they submit the expertise or a supplement to the courts, to transmit a printed or electronic version of the document also to the lawyers who represent the parties in the court file, provision which would be meant to assure the celerity of the judicial process and to provide a support in the lawyers’ activity.

Taking into consideration the importance of this legislative modification, a public debate and the statements of the legal profession’s representatives will insure the premises of the improvement of the lawyers’ activity.

The proposal for the legislative modification can be consulted on the Chamber of Deputies’ site.

 

Lucian Bernd Săuleanu

Lawyer

Dean of the Dolj Bar Association