The High Court of Cassation and Justice. Limits of Journalist’s freedom of expression
HCCJ has decided that, according to the jurisprudence of European Court of Justice, journalists are protected by Article 10 of the Convention, when they are in the task of communicating information and ideas on matters of general interest, although they cannot prove the veracity of the information, if it makes out that they operated in good faith, based on believable assertions. Also, the Court has decided that the inaccuracy of the information presented by the journalists does not exclude the incidence of Article 10, if they did not operate in bad faith and the subject is of public interest.

In this case, the Court has ruled, taking into consideration the fact that a criminal investigation is taking place, a criminal investigation that concerns an act that called forth the journalistic investigation, the journalists’ assertions were not made exclusively to denigrate the claimer, because this is not about situations that cannot be proved, but they contain reliable information that can be considered credible.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Project of amending the procedure of matriculation, registration, radiation and issuing temporary circulation authorizations
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued Friday, 26th February, 2016, the Project of Decree for amending the Decree of the Foreign Affairs Minister no. 1501/2006 referring to the matriculation, registration, radiation and issuing temporary circulation authorizations for the procedure of testing vehicles.

NARB. Reevaluation of institutions with innovative character that are phased in the new codes by particularly constituted working parties
The National Association of Romanian Bars has published Monday, 26th February 2016, a handout regarding to the decision of organizing within the National Institute of Preparation and Improvement of the Lawyers, working parties that will have to reevaluate the institutions with innovative character that are phased in the new criminal and civil codes, but also their analysis referring to the impact that they may have on the legislation of the lawyer profession.

Family Law. The ratification of the Istanbul Convention by Romania
Monday, 29th February 2016, Romanian Senate has adopted the Law of ratification of the Istanbul Convention. This was signed by Romania in June 2011. The Istanbul Convention, in other words, the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence has the scope of protecting women against all forms of violence and preventing, incriminating and eliminating the violence against women and domestic violence.

The states which are parties have the obligation to incriminate or to punish differently the next acts: any form of domestic violence; illegal tracking; sexual violence, including raping; sexual harassment; forced marriage; genital mutilation of women; abortion and forced sterilization.

Romania. Centre of debates concerning the judicial system in 2016
The 30th Congress of the European Lawyers’ Union will take place to Alba-Iulia, between 23rd and 26th June 2016. The organization of this Congress will have the support of National Association of Romanian Bars.

The organizing of this European Lawyers’ Union’s (UAE) event in Romania represents an answer to the actions that Romanian lawyers made according to the mission UAE effected by making common moves to promote the professional law’s practitioners in European Union, education and continual formation of the lawyers, encouraging the freedom of offering counseling services in European Union and so on. In time, Romanian lawyers have proved the interest that they have in a better cooperation with other juridical professions and have emphasized the importance of debating the professional matter in an European context.

Choosing Romania for supporting such an event is a chance for Romania and its judicial system to be appreciated in an appropriate way for the place that it occupies at the present time in the European context.

France. Court of Cassation about the professional secret of the lawyers
France Court of Cassation has ruled that in a lawsuit “lawyer-client confidentiality privilege cannot be extended to the documents that are detained by a client’s opponent, susceptible of disclosing the professional secret. The refusal to be communicated consists in the object of the lawsuit itself”, according to lexisnexis.fr.
Hereby, the decision of the Paris Court Of Appeal was invalidated in order to allow the claimer’s lawyer to take a note of the documents obtained from the opponent in order to debate them during an audience.

Italy. Adopting the civil unions disregarding of the gender
Italian Senate has adopted Thursday, 26th February 2016, a Project of law that allows civil unions for the straight couples and for the same gender couples, also.

The next step is that the Project of law to pass to the Lower House, where the text may be adopted within two months. Italy was the only one big occidental state that did not allow civil unions, which defrauded the unmarried couples for the juridical protection in various fields, like the domain of inheritance.

Anda-Laura Tănase
Cosmina Sima