From time to time we all need a fresh start and this week it seems that „new” was the word of every day. Some of us had new plans and perspectives… So did the Minister of Justice as he announced the 2012 strategy. Even if fighting crime and changing the laws regarding the justice system don’t appear as original ideas, it is a good thing to have a voice to put them into perspective. The Minister’s speech pointed out that 2012 is a good start for revising the disciplinary for all legal professions, changing the fundamental laws and finding the means of insuring a coherent logistic back-up.
While some were busy making amendments for this year The National Council of Magistracy was turning the page with a new administration. After a civilized campaign the council’s members ellected the new president and vicepresident. For the next 3 years judge Alina Nicoleta Ghica will be the Council’s president while judge Oana Andrea Schmidt-Haineala will occupy the vice-president seat. Some concluded that this was the elegant way of showing dissaproval for the last administration and heading toward a moderate chain of command.
The final hours of 2011 showed us with certainty that law enters the „online Era”. This week, Wolters Kluwer Romania followed the trend and launched idrept.ro, a domain that gives the opportunity of being always in touch with the firm’s products FreeLex, AlphaLex si Sintact. While WKR’s clients can read the latest legal news on their way to work, the rest of us are kept in the dark by the same company that was created for the sole purpose of printing the legal acts. The Official Gazette, which technically has to be free and available for everyone in online format, is now restricted. For the curious minds or for those of us that really need to find out some legal aspects the online version is as bad as it comes… with texts overlapping and a print quality which would horrify Gutenberg himself. Due to these changes a new war began and several legal proffesionals signed a petition regarding freedom for all in reading the law. What was born as a civil disobedience act became a major problem as authorities are looking into this matter.
Last but not least, after major rumors regarding higher notary taxes, the National Union of Public Notaries assures us that a trip to the public notary will be as cheap as it was last year. In a press release the Union explained that they only have to create new taxes in order for them to allign to the New Civil Code. So we will have more taxes but no higher than… this is a surprise we all need to wait for.
See you all next week… in a new episode of Romanian Legal Week.
