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Civil Procedure Code - AI Search

The Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Moldova regulates civil procedural relations in the administration of justice by courts (judicial authorities) of general jurisdiction when considering cases of claim proceedings.

The procedure for considering civil cases in courts of general jurisdiction is determined by the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, decisions and decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and decisions of the Constitutional Court, this Code and other organic laws. The norms of civil procedural law contained in other laws must comply with the basic provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova and this Code.

The legislation on civil proceedings establishes the procedure for considering cases of claim proceedings arising from civil, family, labor, housing, land, environmental and other legal relations, cases of special proceedings, order (simplified) proceedings and enforcement proceedings.

See general information about the Judicial System of the Republic of Moldova and Supreme Court of Justice.

Main Provisions of the Civil Procedure Code:

  • Subject of Regulation: The Code establishes the procedure for considering civil cases arising from civil, family, labor, housing, land, environmental, and other legal relations.
  • Procedural Stages: The Code regulates the various stages of civil procedure, including the initiation of a case, preparation for trial, the trial itself, as well as proceedings in appellate and cassation courts and revision proceedings.
  • Types of Proceedings: The Code establishes procedures for the consideration of claims, special proceedings, and summary (simplified) proceedings.
  • Application: The rules of the Code apply to the consideration of cases and the execution of judicial decisions, as well as the decisions of other bodies.

The Code consists of five Sections:

  • Section I. General Dispositions (art. 1-165)
    Article 14. Judicial dispositional acts
    (1) When adjudicating civil cases in the first instance, judicial acts are issued in the form of a judgment, conclusion and ordinance.
    (2) The disposition of the first instance by which the merits of the case are resolved is issued in the form of a decision (judgment).
    (3) The disposition of the first instance by which the merits of the case are not resolved is issued in the form of a conclusion (non-final decision).
    (4) The judicial disposition is issued when examining in the first instance the cases specified in art. 345 ("Order (simplified) proceedings").
    (5) The judicial disposition by which the merits of the appeal and the appeal are resolved is issued in the form of a decision, and when resolving issues that do not resolve the merits of the appeal and the appeal, the disposition is issued in the form of a conclusion (non-final decision).
  • Section II. First-Instance Proceedings (art. 166-365)
    Contentious procedure (Mandatory stages): (art. 166-276)
    - Civil action (art. 166-173)
    - Securing the action (art. 174-182)
    - Preparing the case for judicial debates (art. 183-191)
    - Judicial debates (art. 192-236)
    - Judicial decision (art. 238-258)
    • Article 241. Content of the decision
      (1) The court adopts the decision in the name of the law.
      (2) The judicial decision consists of the introductory part and the operative part. In the cases provided for in art. 236 para. (5), the judicial decision consists of the introductory part, the descriptive part, the reasoning and the operative part. Each part of the decision shall be highlighted separately in its text.
      (3) The introductory part shall indicate the place and date of adoption, the name of the court that pronounces it, the names of the members of the panel of judges, the clerk, the parties and other participants in the trial, the representatives, the subject of the dispute and the claim submitted to the court, the mention of the public or closed nature of the hearing.
      (4) The descriptive part shall briefly indicate the claims of the plaintiff, the objections of the defendant and the explanations of the other participants in the trial.
      (5) The reasoning shall indicate: the circumstances of the case, established by the court, the evidence on which its conclusions regarding these circumstances are based, the arguments invoked by the court when rejecting some evidence, the laws by which the court was guided.
      (6) The operative part shall include the conclusion of the court regarding the admission or rejection of the action in whole or in part, the distribution of the court costs, the way and deadline for appealing the decision.
    • Article 254. Final and irrevocable court decisions
      (1) The court decisions issued in the first instance, subject to appeal, after the examination of the case on appeal, shall remain final.
    • Article 255. Enforcement 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 the 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 Executive Code (Enforcement Code).
    - Judicial conclusion (non-final judicial decision) (art. 269-272)
    • Article 269. Pronouncing the judicial concludion
      (1) The dispositions of the first instance or of the judge by which the case is not resolved on the merits are issued in the form of a non-final decision. This is issued in the deliberation chamber under the conditions of art. 48.
    - Process-Minutes (art. 273-276)
  • Section III. Ways to challenge judicial decisions (art. 357-453)
    - Appeal procedure (art. 357-396) and Review
    - Recourse procedure:
    -- Section 1. Recourse against court conclusions (non-final decisions) (art. 423-428) and Review
    -- Section 2. Recourse against court dispositions of the Courts of Appeal (art. 429-445) and Review
    - Review of court decisions (art. 446-453) and Sumamry
  • Section IV. Proceedings in cases complicated by a foreign element (art. 454-476)
    Guarantees foreign citizens and organizations equal procedural rights and obligations with Moldovan residents.
  • Section V. Proceedings in cases challenging arbitration decisions and issuing writs of execution for the enforcement of arbitration decisions, and approving settlement agreements (art. 477-490)

Basic principles of civil procedure:

  • Article 19. Administration of justice only by courts
  • Article 20. Independence of judges and their subordination only to the law
  • Article 21. Sole and collegial consideration of cases
  • Article 22. Equality of all before the law and justice
  • Article 23. Publicity of court proceedings
  • Article 24. Language of Proceedings and the Right to an Interpreter
  • Article 25. Directness and Orality of Court Proceedings
  • Article 26. Adversarial Proceedings and Procedural Equality of the Parties
  • Article 27. Availability of rights of participants in the process

Applicability

  • Claim Cases: Governs cases arising from civil, family, labor, housing, land, and other legal relations.
  • Special Proceedings: Covers specific categories of cases not related to litigation, including the establishment of facts of legal significance, adoption of a child, the return of a child to the country of permanent residence or the exercise of the right of access, the declaration of a minor's full legal capacity (emancipation), the declaration of a person as missing or deceased, contractual and judicial protection measures, the approval of involuntary hospitalization and treatment, etc. For a detailed understanding of the specific features of special proceedings, it is recommended to read Articles 279 and 280 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Moldova.
  • Order (simplified) proceedings: An order procedure is a simplified process for considering a creditor's claims without a full trial, with the possibility of quickly obtaining a writ of execution. Articles 344–354 deal with the court order, the grounds for its issuance, the requirements for which it is issued, and the procedure for issuing a court order to a creditor.

Appeal

An appeal in conformity with the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Moldova is the main ordinary means of appeal through which participants in the proceedings can request verification of the legality and soundness of a decision rendered by the court of first instance. This procedural institution offers the party who considers itself aggrieved by the decision of the first instance the possibility of obtaining a re-examination of the case by the hierarchically superior court.

An important characteristic of an appeal is one of the official decisions, which may involve referring the case for a new a new consideration (trial) to the court of appeal. Within the framework of this procedure, the competent court analyzes both the factual and legal aspects of the dispute, within the limits of the grounds invoked by the appellant and the subject of the appeal. Thus, the court of appeal has the power to verify the manner in which the circumstances of the case were established, as well as the correct application and interpretation of the relevant legal norms.

In principle, judgments rendered by the first instance, as well as certain court orders provided for by law, may be appealed. The exercise of the appeal is subject to compliance with the procedural term established by the legislation, which, according to art. 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Moldova, is 30 days from the date of communication of the operative part of the decision, unless otherwise provided by law.

Unlike the appeal, the appeal allows, under certain conditions provided by law, the presentation of new evidence and the formulation of additional legal arguments, which gives the appellate court the opportunity to conduct a comprehensive and complete examination of the dispute. At the same time, the declaration of the appeal usually produces a suspensive effect of execution, which means that the execution of the contested decision is suspended until a final solution is issued by the appellate court, with the exceptions expressly provided by law.

Recourse

A recourse in conformity with the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Moldova is an extraordinary remedy intended to verify the legality of final or enforceable court decisions, having a purpose distinct from that of the appeal. If the appeal seeks to re-examine the case both in terms of the factual situation and the application of the law, the recourse is exclusively a review of the legality of the contested decision.

In the recourse procedure, the competent judicial instance examines whether the lower courts have correctly interpreted and applied the substantive and procedural law. Unlike the appeal, the court of recourse does not proceed to re-evaluate the evidence administered or to establish a new factual situation, its activity being limited to verifying the compliance of the contested decision with the applicable legal provisions.

The grounds that may substantiate the declaration of a recourse are expressly and exhaustively provided for by the civil procedural legislation. According to art. 432 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Moldova, these concern, among others, the violation of the norms regarding the jurisdiction of the courts, disregard of essential procedural rules, erroneous interpretation or application of the law, as well as the lack or insufficiency of the reasoning of the judicial act.

The exercise of the recourse is subject to compliance with the procedural term established by law, which, as a rule, is 2 months from the date of communication of the decision or the final decision of the Court of Appeal, unless the law provides otherwise. And in the case of First Instance Decisions, the term for declaring the appeal is 15 days from the communication of the decision.

Decisions pronounced by the courts of appeal in their capacity as courts of appeal, as well as decisions pronounced by the courts of appeal, can be appealed. However, in the case of first instance decisions, the competence to examine the recourse lies with the Court of Appeal.

Another distinctive element of the recourse is the lack of suspensive effect of execution. Thus, the mere declaration of the recourse does not prevent the execution of the contested decision, as it can be enforced until the recourse is resolved. Suspension of execution may only occur in cases expressly provided for by law or based on a request admitted by the competent court.

If you need an in-depth AI analysis, please determine in advance for yourself:

  • What type of dispute are you interested in: civil, commercial, family, labor?
  • Are you in the initiation phase of the lawsuit or do you want to contest a decision?
  • Do you need explanations regarding the calculation of the state fee or the prescription periods?

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Law on State Fees of the Republic of Moldova

Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 213/2023 regulates the collection of State fees and Stamp duties for a specified list of legally significant actions and the issuance of documents by state bodies, including applications to the court (claims, appeals, cassation complaints), applications to challenge the acts and actions of an court executor (bailiff), issuance of copies (duplicates) of documents by the court, review of applications for citizenship of the Republic of Moldova, issuance of temporary or permanent residence permits, issuance/restoration of civil status documents (passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc.), state registration at the place of residence and/or temporary stay, execution of notarial acts etc.;

State-Guaranteed Legal Aid

In Moldova, State-Guaranteed Legal Aid is regulated by Law No. 198/2007 and includes two main types: primary and qualified. It is provided to Moldovan citizens, foreigners, and stateless persons who lack sufficient funds to pay for services. It covers consultations, document drafting, and representation in court (criminal and civil).

The system is managed by the National Legal Aid Council, and provision is overseen by territorial offices (Chisinau, Balti, Cahul), which verify the applicant's eligibility.

Types of Legal Aid

  • Primary: Information about the legal system, rights and responsibilities, consulting, assistance in drafting documents (not included under qualified).
  • Qualified: Consultations, document drafting, representation/defense in criminal, civil, and administrative proceedings (including offense cases), representation before government agencies.

Who is eligible?

  • Moldovan citizens, foreigners, and stateless persons who cannot afford legal services.
  • In criminal cases, defense by a lawyer (appointed by the state) is mandatory from the moment of arrest.

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