Here is the full text of the request sent by Klaus Iohannis:
“On June 24, 2023, the Parliament of Romania submitted to the President of Romania, with a view to promulgation, the Law for completing the Government’s Emergency Ordinance no. 195/2002 regarding traffic on public roads (PL-x no. 552/2019).
In order to avoid difficulties in application, we believe that the law must be re-examined by the Parliament for the reasons set out below, being necessary to be correlated with all the existing regulations.
1. The single article of the law under review completes art. 241 para. (1) from GEO no. 195/2002 regarding traffic on public roads with a new letter, lit. k), having the following content: “k) driving licenses issued for category B are also valid for motorcycles with automatic transmission with a maximum cylinder capacity of 125 cm3, with a maximum power of 11 kW and with a power/weight ratio of no more than 0, 1 kW/kg, category A1. The license holders must be at least 24 years old, the license for category B obtained at least 3 years ago and provide proof of completion of 10 hours of practical training at an authorized vehicle driver training unit”. In other words, the legislative intervention concerns the right to drive vehicles on public roads.
In the form in force, art. 241 para. (1) from GEO no. 195/2002 provides that: “(1) Driving licenses are issued as follows: a) for categories C1, C, D1 and D – to drivers who hold a category B driving license and who have passed the exam corresponding to the requested category; b) for categories BE, C1E, CE, D1E and DE – drivers who hold a driving license for categories B, C1, C, D1, respectively D and who have passed the exam corresponding to the requested category”. Therefore, this legal text does not regulate the right to drive vehicles on public roads, but the procedure for issuing driving licenses, comprising only two letters, respectively letters a) and b).
The right to drive vehicles on public roads is regulated in the next paragraph of art. 241, respectively at para. (2), as follows: “Driving licenses give the right to drive vehicles on public roads, as follows: a) driving licenses issued for categories C1E, CE, D1E or DE are valid for vehicles in category BE; b) driving licenses issued for category CE are valid for category DE, if the holders hold a driving license for category D; […] j) driving licenses issued for categories D or DE are also valid for vehicles in category Tb”.
According to art. 61 para. (2) from Law no. 24/2000 regarding the legislative technical norms for the elaboration of normative acts, “The amended or supplementing provisions of the normative act must be harmoniously integrated into the act subject to amendment or completion, ensuring the unity of style and terminology, as well as the normal sequence of the articles” , and, according to art. 13 of the same normative act, “The normative act must be organically integrated into the legislation system, for which purpose: a) the draft normative act must be correlated with the provisions of the normative acts of a higher level or of the same level, with which it is connected”.
Problematic procedure for issuing driving licenses
From the analysis of the regulatory object and the structure of the two previously mentioned paragraphs, a wrong placement of the legislative intervention in the paragraph results. (1) of art. 241 which regulates the procedure for issuing driving licenses, and not the right to drive vehicles on public roads. Therefore, we consider that the legislative intervention must be aimed at completing art. 241 para. (2). We mention that this observation was also formulated by the Legislative Council through opinion no. 460/2019.
In conclusion, by disregarding the rules of legislative technique, the adopted rules contravene the constitutional jurisprudence, generating at the same time a significant impact in the development of some social relationships, with implications on the safety of traffic on public roads and, implicitly, the protection of the fundamental rights to life and physical integrity provided by Art. 22 of the Constitution.
2. Also, according to the rule introduced by the law subject to review, the driver must “prove the completion of 10 hours of practical training in an authorized vehicle driver training unit”.
Given that, according to the regulations in force, the categories of vehicles that can be driven on public roads clearly result from the type of license issued and the categories of vehicles registered in it, it is unclear how exactly the proof of completion of the 10 hours of training will be made practice and if this proof must be physically held and presented in the event of a control, by each vehicle driver, together with the driver’s license issued according to art. 24 and art. 241 of GEO no. 195/2002.
Art. 8 para. (4) sentence I of Law no. 24/2000 provides that: “The legislative text must be formulated clearly, fluently and intelligibly, without syntactic difficulties and obscure or equivocal passages”. Thus, without questioning the appropriateness of adopting the legislative solution, we appreciate that, for the efficient application of the rules related to traffic safety on public roads, it is necessary to clarify the legislator’s intention to grant the right to the holders of driving licenses issued for category B to drive only motorcycles with automatic transmission of category A1.
Last but not least, given the importance of traffic safety on public roads and the need for legislative stability and predictability, which would enable both the addressees of the law and those who apply it to adjust their behavior accordingly, we believe that legislative interventions in this field they must be coherent, unitary and as little fragmented as possible. For example, during the current year, GEO no. 195/2002 was amended and/or supplemented by several laws, and currently, in the parliamentary procedure, there are numerous other legislative initiatives aimed at this normative act.
Against the arguments presented above and considering the exclusive legislative competence of the Parliament, we ask you to re-examine the Law for the completion of the Government’s Emergency Ordinance no. 195/2002 regarding traffic on public roads”, the document states.
2023-07-07 09:18:35
#Change #Highway #Code #president #law #reconsideration
