The Law of the Republic of Moldova on the National Bank of Moldova and Law on Administrative Court were recently amended to limit the jurisdiction of the courts to conduct judicial review of the NBM decisions (administrative acts). A number of important checks and limitations were set as a tool to confer more independence to the NBM in exercise of its functions as bank sector supervising and regulating authority.
First, the 2014 amendments limit the scope for challenging decisions of the NBM where the decision involves the exercise of discretion.
Second, the law created a more complex procedure for claiming in court interim orders to suspend the effect of the NBM decisions and limited the cases for such suspension. For the first time Moldovan law has adopted such concepts as “prima facie” case; serious and irreparable damage; and “balance of convenience“.
Third, the jurisdiction for the cases involving contestation of administrative acts of the NBM was strictly defined. Now all the claims against the NMB decisions must be brought in the District Court of Riscani. This is the district of Chisinau where NBM has its seat.
Given the specifics of the banking regulations and the need for the specialized knowledge for the judges to decide on cases involving judicial review of the NBM decisions, the EBRD has implemented a training lecture for the judges of the courts of the Republic of Moldova named “Administrative Proceedings Review of the decisions of the National Bank of Moldova“.
The training was organized together with the National Institute of Justice (www.inj.md) and ACI Partners Law Office (www.aci.md).
The training included full day session for two groups of judges on 18 and 19 November 2014. The speakers at the training were:
Zdenek Kuhn, LL.M., S.J.D. (University of Michigan), Judge at the Supreme Administrative Court in Czech Republic, judge ad hoc at the European Court of Human Rights
Aurel Baiesu, Ph.D., judge at the Constitutional Court of Moldova
Natalia Sirbu, Head of Legal Department, National Bank of Moldova
Andrei Caciurenco, LL.M. in Comparative Constitutional Law, ACI Partners Law Office, Partner.
Maia Pircalab, Head of Internal Services Department, Procredit Bank.
For additional information on the subject matter of the training session or advice on particularities of the Moldovan regulation of interim reliefs on decisions of governmental agencies, National Bank of Moldova and other public administration authorities, please feel free to contact Andrei Caciurenco, Partner.
National Institute of Justice press release: http://inj.md/node/988
