The constitutional court bulletin

Protection of honour and dignity of person. Access to courts
Adjudicating within the a posteriori review, the Constitutional Court allowed the objection of unconstitutionality and held that the provisions under Article I item 4 of the Government Ordinance no. 34/2001 on judicial stamp duty are unconstitutional. The subject matter of the examined objection of unconstitutionality repealed Article 15 paragraph f¹) of Law no. 146/1997.

Patrimonial liability for non material damage was allowed by means of jurisprudence, as from 1990 and by means of legislation, the existence of this type of legal answerability was enshrined by Article 15 paragraph f¹) of Law no. 146/1997 on judicial stamp duty, text inserted in the law by Government Ordinance no. 11 of January 29^th 1998, approved by Law no. 112/1998, providing the exemption from payment of judicial stamp duty of actions and applications, including those for the exercise of avenues of appeal, concerning the “ascertainment and granting of indemnities for non material damage prejudicial to the honour, dignity or reputation of a natural person”.

This regulation represented a specific modality of protection of honour and dignity of person, characterized under Article 1 paragraph (3) of the Constitution of Romania as supreme values for the rule of law. Thus it ensured the access to courts unconditional of the payment of a stamp duty to persons injured by utterance of insulting expressions, slander or smear done by any means, directly or by mass media.

Taking into consideration these grounds of Article 1 paragraph (3) of the Constitution of Romania justifying the exemption from judicial stamp duty of those actions concerning the ascertainment and granting of compensation for non material damage prejudicial to the honour, dignity and reputation of a natural person, the Constitutional Court held that the repeal of Article 15 paragraph f¹) of Law no. 146/1997 on judicial stamp duty contravenes the provisions under Article 1 paragraph (3) and those under Article 21 paragraphs (1) and (2) of the Constitution of Romania, as well as those under Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Decision no. 778 of May 12^h 2009, published

in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 465 of July 6^th 2009