Prosecution and investigative authorities in Romania Current status and future reforms Monica Otava Prosecutor Prosecutor’s Office Attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice

The role of Public Ministry within Judiciary System In judiciary activity the Public Ministry represents the general interest of society and protect defend the rule of law as well as citizens’ rights Public Ministry act through prosecutors constituted in Prosecutor’s Offices according to the law. Prosecutor’s Offices are attached to the Courts, lead and supervise criminal investigations of judicial police according to the law. (Romanian Constitution, art. 131; Law on Judicial Organization, art. 4)

Working principles Principle of legality Principle of impartiality Principle of hierarchical control (Romanian Constitution, art. 131; Law on Judicial Organization, art. 4) Prosecutor Offices are independent in relation with the Courts of law and other public authorities (Romanian Constitution, art. 131; Law on Judicial Organization, art. 4)

Duties 1. Carries out the criminal investigation within the conditions provided by the law and participate as per law at solving conflicts through alternative ways. 2. Leads and coordinates the investigative activities carried out by the judiciary police, leads and control the activity of other investigative bodies. 3. Institute proceedings before courts of law for the trial of criminal cases 4. Exert civil action in the cases provided by the law. 5. Participate to the court sessions as per law 6. Exert the ways of appeals against the judicial decisions 7. Protect the rights and legitimate interests of minors, disappeared persons and other citizens as per law 8. Act for preventing and fighting against criminality under Justice Ministry’s coordination for accomplishing unitary the criminal policy 9. Draws out studies on causes that generate and conditions that favor criminality and proposes solutions to eliminate it makes propositions to improve the criminal legislation in this area 10. Exert all other duties provided by the law (Law on Judicial Organization, art. 60)

Structure of the Romanian Public Ministry Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Courts of Appeal Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Law Courts Prosecutor’s Office attached to the First instance Courts Pyramidal structure with different competencies for each level.

Institutional reform National Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Autonomous Specialized in investigating corruption and related crimes Multifunctional team of professionals (police, finance, etc) Direction for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism Under direct coordination of General Prosecutor Specialized offices by crime types related to organized crime Lead by prosecutors and employing different types of professionals as financial, customs, banking, IT Re-organizing of Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice – new offices Bureau for Intellectual Property Rights Bureau for Juvenile Criminality Bureau for Combating Trans-border Macro Criminality

Functional reform Legislative measures New means of investigation Putting bank accounts under surveillance Putting under surveillance and interception of communications Access to IT systems Using under cover agents Getting the use of insiders Witnesses, victims and experts protection Law for criminal judicial cooperation Improved Criminal Procedure Code Preventive measures Special procedures under judge authorization Measures for strengthening the administrative capacity Improvement of IT capacity Continuous training of prosecutors, policemen and specialists

Next steps Implementation of National Strategy for combating of organized criminality; Establishment of the Center for Continuous Training of Prosecutors Set up of a common database of all institutions involved in combating organized crime Optimizing and improving the use of joint investigation teams Consolidating cooperation with international agencies: SECI Center, CEI, Interpol, Europol, Eurojust, etc

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