Subject and number of decisions

a) Romania / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 13 April 1994 / e) Decision No 30 / f) / g) Monitorul Oficial, No.259,15 September 1994.

Constitutional justice - Types of litigation - Litigation in respect of fundamental rights and freedoms.

Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to work.

Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Freedom to choose one's profession.

Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to social security.

Lawyer/Pension / International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The Constitutional Court upheld an objection to Article 5.1 .II of Decree 251/1978 on admission to the Bar of persons retiring from other sectors of activity. The provisions concerned were null under Article 150 (1) of the Constitution in that they restricted the right to work as laid down in Article 38 (1) of the Constitution, the right to a retirement pension as laid down in Article 43 (2) of the Constitution, and the right freely to choose an occupation as laid down in Article 38 (1) of the Constitution and Article 6 (1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, ratified by Romania in Decree 212/1974.

a) Romania / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 18 May 1994 / e) Decision No 59 / f) / g) Monitorul Oficial No. 259, 15 September 1994.

Constitutional justice - Type of litigation - Litigation in respect of fundamental rights and freedoms.

Constitutional justice - The subject of review - Laws and other rules having the force of law.

Institutions - Courts - Administrative courts - Jurisdiction.

Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Equality.

Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Right of access to courts.

Sources of constitutional law - Hierarchy - Hierarchy as between national and non-national sources - European Convention on Human Rights and other domestic legal instruments.

The Constitutional Court upheld an objection to Article 175 (1) b of the Labour Code. The provisions were discriminatory in the jurisdiction which they vested in the administrative authorities, contravened the principle of equality of citizens before the law as laid down in Article 16 of the Constitution, and restricted both the right to a court as laid down in Article 21 of the Constitution and the right to a fair trial as laid down in Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights, which Romania had ratified by Law 30 of 18 May 1994.

In Decision 1 of 2 February 1994 the Plenary Assembly of the Constitutional Court decided that setting up an administrative tribunal was not contrary to the principle laid down in Article 21 of the Constitution provided that the tribunal's decisions could be challenged in a court of law.