Contesting the conclusion of the rejection of the application for lifting the exception of unconstitutionality: the attitude of the Constitutional Court

Initially, by the Decision of the Constitutional Court no. 2 of 09.02.2016, it was established that the exception of unconstitutionality may be raised before the court by any of the parties or its representative, as well as by the court ex officio. At the same time, the Constitutional Court observed that the conclusion of the court rejecting the objection of unconstitutionality was not subject to appeal, which violated the principle of the speed of trial.Consequently, the Court thought that the parties should have the opportunity to appeal separately the decision of the judge rejecting the request to lift the exception. Interestingly during the last 5 years, the Constitutional Court has abandoned its vision on the establishment of the appeal, the appeal against some decisions rejecting the requests to lift the exception of unconstitutionality.Using practically the same arguments as in the Judgment of 09.02.2016, the Constitutional Court subsequently considered that art. 7) para. 32) of the CPC is adopted by Law no. 99/2020 in the spirit of the Constitution, and the parties in the process may challenge the position, the conclusion of the court of the first instance by which the request regarding the lifting of the exception of unconstitutionality was rejected, together with the merits of the case.