Civil process: Participants and the Contentious procedure in first instance

Civil procedure in the Republic of Moldova is regulated by the Civil Procedure Code and consists of 5 main stages in the court of first instance.

I) Participants in the process

Article 55. Participants in the process

Participants in the process are considered to be: the parties, interveners, the prosecutor, the petitioners, the persons who, in accordance with art. 7 para.(2), art. 73 and 74, are empowered to file applications in court in defense of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of other persons or who intervene in the process to submit conclusions in defense of the rights of other persons, as well as the persons interested in the cases regarding the application of protection measures in cases of domestic violence and in cases with special procedure.

Article 56. Rights and obligations of participants in the trial

(1) Participants in the trial are entitled to familiarize themselves with the materials of the case file, to make extracts and copies from them, to request objections, to present evidence and to participate in their investigation, to ask questions of other participants in the trial, witnesses, experts and specialists, to formulate requests, to request evidence, to give oral and written explanations to the court, to present arguments and considerations on the issues that arise in the judicial debates, to submit objections against the actions, arguments and considerations of the other participants, to challenge judicial acts and to exercise all procedural rights granted by the civil procedural legislation.

(2) Participants in the trial enjoy equal procedural rights and have equal procedural obligations, with some exceptions established by law depending on the position they occupy in the trial.

II) Contentious procedure in first instance. Main stages:

Civil procedure in the Republic of Moldova is regulated by the Civil Procedure Code and consists of 5 main stages in the court of first instance.

Step 1) Filing a summons (Articles 166-173)

The plaintiff files an application for summons with the competent court (court), with the attached documents and the receipt for payment of the state fee.

Article 166. Form and content of the application for summons

The application for summons is automatically distributed among judges through the Integrated Case Management Program (IPCM) - the program used in all courts of the Republic of Moldova.

Step 2) Securing the action (Articles 174-182)

Article 174. Grounds for securing the action

(1) At the request of the participants in the trial, the judge or court shall order on the same day the application or non-application of measures to secure the action.

Article 175. Measures to secure the action

(1) In order to secure the action, the judge or court shall have the right:

a) to seize the defendant's assets or sums of money, including those held by other persons;

a1) to record the action in the public records provided for by law, in relation to the defendant's rights;

b) prohibit the defendant from committing certain acts;

c) prohibit other persons from committing certain acts in relation to the subject matter of the dispute, including the transfer of goods to the defendant or the fulfilment of other obligations towards him;

d) suspend the sale of the seized goods in the event of an action to lift the seizure on them (deletion from the inventory act);

e) suspend the prosecution, based on an enforceable document, contested by the debtor in court.

(2) The judge or the court shall order, at the request of the participants in the proceedings, the application of other measures to secure the action that correspond to the purposes specified in art. 174. Several measures to secure the action may be admitted simultaneously if the value of the seized goods does not exceed the value of the action.

Step 3) Preparing the case for judicial debates (Articles 183-191)

Article 183. Tasks of preparing the case for judicial debates

(2) Preparation for judicial debate is mandatory for any civil case and aims to:

a) specify the law to be applied and determine the legal relations between the parties;

b) establish the circumstances that are important for the fair resolution of the case;

c) establish the composition of the participants in the process and the involvement of other persons in the process;

d) present all evidence;

e) assess the opportunities for resolving the dispute through mediation;

f) examining and deciding on applications submitted and not examined by the court regarding the performance of expertise, appointment/challenge of the expert, claim of evidence, securing the action;

g) establishing deadlines for performing procedural acts;

h) establishing the place, date, time and duration of the court session;

i) establishing the order and time necessary for hearing witnesses, experts or other persons, for performing other procedural acts.

Step 4) Judicial debates (Articles 192-236)

The examination of the merits of the case is carried out in a single continuous court session, including:

1) Hearing of the parties, witnesses and experts.

2) Examination of written evidence and case materials.

3) Conduct of pleadings (plaintiff and defendant).

Step 5) Rendering a judicial decision (Articles 238-258)

Article 238. Deliberation procedure

(1) Only the judges before whom the case was heard shall take part in the deliberation. The panel of judges shall deliberate in secret. Disclosure of the deliberations is prohibited.

(3) The decision shall be adopted in accordance with the rules established in Article 48.

Article 239. Legality and basis of the decision

The court decision must be legal and well-founded. The court shall base its decision only on the circumstances established directly by the court and on the evidence examined at the hearing.

Article 241. Content of the judgment

(1) The court shall adopt the judgment in the name of the law.

(2) The judgment shall consist of the introductory part and the operative part. In the cases provided for in art. 236 para. (5), the judgment shall consist of the introductory part, the descriptive part, the reasoning and the operative part. Each part of the judgment shall be highlighted separately in its text.

(6) The operative part shall include the court’s conclusion on the admission or rejection of the action in whole or in part, the distribution of court costs, the means and the deadline for appealing the judgment.

The adopted court decision shall be published on the court's website and communicated to the participants in the process, including through the Integrated Case Management Program (PIGD).

Step 6) Challenging judicial decisions before it enters into Force - Optional

Any participant in a civil procedure may challenge the decision of the first instance court. Details:

• - Appeal procedure (Articles 357-396) and Summary
  The term for filing an appeal is 30 days from the date of the pronouncement of the operative part of the decision, unless the law provides otherwise.
• - Recourse procedure
  • - Section 1. Recourse against court decisions (Articles 423-428) and Summary
    The term for filing an application against the Rulings (Non-final decision) is 15 days from the notification of the conclusion
  • - Section 2. Recourse against the rulings of the Courts of Appeal (Articles 429-445) and Summary
    The recourse application shall be filed within 2 months from the date of notification of the judgment or non-final decision as a whole, unless otherwise provided by law.

Attention: Failure to comply with the deadline for filing an appeal and/or recourse will result in the inability to appeal a court decision unfavorable to you.

Step 7) Enforcement of the Judical Decision (Articles 254-258)

Article 254. Final and irrevocable court decisions

(1) Court decisions issued in the first instance, subject to appeal, after examining the case on appeal, shall remain final.

(2) Court decisions shall remain irrevocable:

a) issued in the first instance, after the expiration of the appeal period, if the interested participants have not exercised the appropriate remedy;

a¹) issued in the first instance, contested by appeal, without the right of appeal;

b) issued by the appellate court, after the expiry of the appeal period, if the interested participants have not exercised the appropriate remedy;

c) issued by the appellate court, after examining the appeal.

(3) After the decision remains irrevocable, the parties and other participants in the process, as well as their successors in title, may not submit a new request for summons to court with the same claims and on the same grounds, nor may they contest in another process the facts and legal relationships established in the irrevocable court decision.

Article 255. Execution of the judgment

The judgment shall be executed voluntarily, in the manner established by law, within a maximum period of 15 days after it becomes final, with the exception of judgments provided for in art. 256. After the expiry of the term provided for in this article or the term established in accordance with the provisions of art. 256 paragraph (1¹), the creditor may request forced execution under the terms of the Enforcement Code.

Article 256. Immediate execution of the judgment

(1) The ordinance or judgment by which the defendant is obliged to pay:

a) maintenance;

b) salary and other rights arising from employment relationships, as well as the indemnities provided for by the unemployment statute, in the amount of an average salary;

c) compensation for damages caused by bodily injury or other health damage or by death, if the compensation was made in the form of periodic cash benefits;

d) an average salary for forced absence from work, in the case of reinstatement in service.

(1¹) The court that issued the order or court decision provided for in paragraph (1) shall establish in the operative part a reasonable term for the voluntary execution by the defendant of his obligation, which may not exceed 15 days from the issuance of the order or court decision.

(2) The court decision regarding the reinstatement of the employee who was unlawfully dismissed or transferred shall be enforced immediately.

Article 258. Ensuring the enforcement of the decision

At the same time as issuing a decision regarding the award of sums of money, goods or their equivalent, the court, at the request of the interested party, submitted at the latest during the pleadings, is entitled to order in the operative part of the decision the application of security measures, according to the provisions of Chapter XIII.

Step 8) Challenging judicial decisions after Court Decisions Enter into Force - Optional

Any participant in a civil procedure may challenge the decision of the first instance court. Details:

Title III. Challenges against court decisions

• - Review of judicial decisions (Revision Remedy) (Articles 446-453) and Summary