The Council
The Council is the supreme management body of the National Institute of Justice.
The componence:
The Council has 13 members, as follows:
a) 7 members are appointed by the Supreme Council of Magistrates from the judges acting at various courts;
b) 4 members are appointed by the Supreme Council of Prosecutors from the prosecutors acting at various prosecutor offices;
c) one member is appointed by the Ministry of Justice;
d) one member – university professor of law – is appointed by the Council of University Principles of the Republic of Moldova.
The mandate of the member of the Council is valid for 4 years and may be subject to renewal only once.
The status of the member of the Council terminates upon the expiration of the mandate, upon the request of the member or in case of the death of the member. The member of the Council may be revoked by the authority which appointed him/her, if there are circumstances demonstrating such member’s impossibility to perform his/her duties, as well as based on a request of the Council to be voted by 2/3 of its members if the Councils considers that the member in question fails to fulfil or fulfils inappropriate his/her duties.
The President of the Council is to be elected, through secrete voting, from the members of the Council, within the duration of his/her mandate. The President of the Council may be revoked upon the request of a 1/3 of the members of the Council. The decision on revocation of the president is to be passed through secret voting with 2/3 of votes of the members of the Council.
Clerical works of the Council are ensured by the Institute.
Competences:
1) In the area of organization of the Institute’s activity, the Council has the following key competences:
a) approves the Institute’s development strategy and the action plan for its implementation;
b) approves the Internal Order Regulation and other documents necessary for the good functioning of the Institute;
c) approves the structure, personnel chart of the Institute and its maximum number;
d) organizes the competition for the position of the director of the Institute;
e) appoints and revokes the director and the deputy director of the Institute, as per the provisions of Art. 9;
f) if the position of the director or the deputy director becomes vacant, appoints an intermediary director or the deputy director until the date of appointment of the director or the deputy director, as per the provisions of the law;
g) approves the Statutes of the trainers;
h) approves the results of the competition for the appointment of the trainers;
i) approves and files with the Ministry of Finance the draft of the Institute’s budget;
j) authorizes the cooperation agreements/memorandums and donor agreements entered into with the similar institutions from other countries;
k) annually, by 31 July, approves the report on activity of the Institute, to be submitted with the Superior Council of Magistrates, the Superior Council of Prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice and published on the official webpage of the Institute;
l) approves the Methodology for assessment of the training programs quality.
2) In the area of initial training of the candidates to the positions of a judge or prosecutor, continuous training of the acting judges and prosecutors, court registrars, judicial assistants, heads of court chancelleries, prosecutors’ consultants, probations officers, attorneys involved in state-guaranteed legal assistance, as well as in the area of organization of the exams for the individuals who candidate to the position of the judge or prosecutor based on the duration of their employment service, the Council has the following main competences:
a) annually, by 31 March, taking into account available funds and the proposals submitted by the Superior Council of Magistrates and the Superior Council of Prosecutors, approves, the number of the vacancies to be offered for the competition for admission for the initial training of the candidates for the position of a judge or prosecutor;
b) approves the Regulation on organization and carrying out of the competition for admission for the initial training of the candidates for the position of a judge or prosecutor;
c) approves the componence of the Admission Competition Commission, Final Examination Commission and the Appeals Commission;
d) approves the results of the competition for admission for the initial training of the candidates for the position of a judge or prosecutor and the lists of approved candidates for the initial training;
e) annually, by 1 September, approves the study plan of the initial training and the curricula of the subjects the initial training of the candidates for the position of a judge or prosecutor;
f) approves the results of the final examination of the initial training of the candidates for the position of a judge or prosecutor and the final examination for the individuals who candidate to the positions of the judge or prosecutor based on the duration of their employment service;
g) approves the methodologies for assessment of the needs for the initial and continuous trainings;
h) annually, by 30 November, approves the continuous training study plans;
i) approves the specimen of a diploma for the initial training, continuous training certificate and the certificate confirming the fact that an individual had held the final examination in front of the Commission for the Final Examination of the individuals who candidate to the positions of the judge or prosecutor based on the duration of their employment service;
j) annually, by 30 November, approves the trainers training study plan.
3. The Council has the following main competences related to the initial and continuous training of other individuals who act in the area of justice:
a) approves the initial and continuous study plans for the individuals who act in the area of justice;
b) approves the Regulation on organization the conditions for carrying out the initial and continuous training of the individuals who act in the area of justice.
4. The Council has other competences provided by the Law on National Institute of Justice.
For the decisions specified at par. (1) item l) and par. (2) items. b), e), h), i) and j) the consultation of the opinion of the Superior Council of Magistrates, the Superior Council of Prosecutors, the Ministry of Justice and the National Council for the State-Guaranteed Legal Assistance is mandatory.
For the decisions specified at par. (2) item. a) the consultation of the opinion of the Superior Council of Magistrates and the Superior Council of Prosecutors is mandatory, while for the decisions specified at par. (3) the consultation of the relevant management bodies of the relevant areas of justice is mandatory.
Meetings:
The Council has ordinary meetings, at least once in a quarter.
The Council may have extraordinary meetings upon the request of its president or, at least 1/3 of its members. The date, time, place, agenda and the drafts of the documents to be approved at the meeting, together with the other materials should be provided to the members of the Council with, at least 3 days prior to the date of the meeting. In case of extraordinary meetings, these materials should be provided to the members of the Council with, at least one day prior to the date of the meeting.
The chairman of the meetings is the president of the Council. In the absence of the president, the meeting is chaired by a member appointed by the president or a member appointed by the other members, if the case.
The meetings of the Council are public. Upon reasonable request of the president of the Council or at least 5 its members, the Council may decide upon the non-public meeting. The meetings have quorum if attended by the majority of the members of the Council.
The Director of the Institute is entitled to attend the meetings of the Council, not having the voting rights.
Upon the request of the president of the Council or, at least 1/3 of its members, the meetings of the Council may be attended by the representatives of the donor organizations and private experts.
The decisions of the Council are passed by the majority of votes of the members of the Council and are executed by its president. The decisions related to the study programs for the judges and, respectively, prosecutors are considered to be passed if voted by the majority of judges – members of the Council and, respectively, majority of prosecutors – members of the Council.
The meetings of the Council are documented by the minutes to be executed by the president and the secretary.
All the decisions of the Council are published on the official webpage of the Institute. The Regulations passed by the Council with respect to its competences specified at Art. 4 are published with the Official Gazette of the Republic of Moldova.