The Constitutional Court (in Romanian Curtea Constituțională) is an independent court which reviews the constitutionality of different laws and regulations in Moldova. It works on the basis of the Law on the Constitutional Court and the Constitutional Jurisdiction Code.
The Court may declare laws or regulations invalid if it determines that they conflict with the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova.
Institutions entitled to file a complaint
Only the following persons are entitled to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court:
- President of the Republic of Moldova
- Government, Minister of Justice
- judges/judge panels of the Supreme Court of Justice
- courts of appeal and courts of law
- Superior Council of Magistracy
- Prosecutor General
- Member of Parliament, parliamentary faction,
- Ombudsman, Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child
- councils of the administrative-territorial units of the first or second level
- People's Assembly of Gagauzia (Gagauz-Yeri)
Private individuals
Private individuals cannot take their complaints to the Constitutional Court. The only way for you to raise an issue you are concerned about with the Constitutional Court is through persons who are entitled to file complaints to the Constitutional Court. For example, you may request a Member of the Parliament, Ombudsman or a judge about this.
It is important to know that Constitutional Court will not examine your case (which is in the jurisdiction of general courts) and will not state about a specific violation of your right. At the same time, Constitutional Court may declare unconstitutional a law violating your right, and this decision will have future effect: the Court may declare that the law you are complaining about will no longer be in force from the day of the judgement, from the date of the judgements publication or from the date indicated in the judgement.
Effect of the decision
A law or part of a law declared unconstitutional becomes null and void and is no longer applied. According to the Criminal Procedure Code, you may request a review of your criminal case if the Constitutional Court recognised as unconstitutional the provision of the law applied in that case.
No appeal
The decisions and judgements of the Constitutional Court are binding and they cannot be appealed.