Appointment as First Deputy General Prosecutor of the General Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice
For appointment as First Deputy Prosecutor General of the General Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, according to Article 54 paragraph (1) of Law no.303/2004 on the status of judges and prosecutors, republished, the following procedural steps should be observed:
1. nomination by the Minister of Justice;
2. opinion of the Superior Council of Magistracy;
3. appointment by decree of the President of Romania.
Temporary employment as First Deputy General Prosecutor of the General Prosecutor 's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
Article 57 paragraph (7) of the Law no.303/2004 expressly provides that temporary occupation of the management offices within the Prosecutor’s Offices (including the First Deputy General Prosecutor of the General Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice) is ordered by delegation by the General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, to the Prosecutor’s Offices of the Public Ministry for a period not exceeding 6 months.

Deployment of judges and prosecutors

The deployment institution is provided at Article 58 of the Law no.303/2004 in that deployment is ordered by the Superior Council of Magistracy, other courts or prosecutor’s offices, to the Superior Council of Magistracy, the National Institute of Magistracy, Ministry of Justice or units under its authority or other public authorities in all offices, including those of public dignity at the request of these institutions.
Article 58 considers deployment to the courts, prosecutor’s offices or other institutions. This article cannot be implemented through eluding the norms governing the appointment to those offices. For example, if a magistrate holds the office as Secretary of State within a Ministry, deployment is done in the respective Ministry, effective appointment is under the law that governs it (in this case, by the Prime Minister).
Possibility of deployment to the position of First Deputy General Prosecutor to the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice
This leadership position can be occupied by:
- Appointment (by the President of Romania, under article 54 of the Law no.303/2004, given the aforementioned);
- Delegation (ordered by the Prosecutor General, under Article 57 paragraph (7) of Law no.303/2004).
Therefore, the Superior Council of Magistracy has no power of delegation or appointment of a magistrate as First Deputy General Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice.
What falls within the jurisdiction of the Superior Council of Magistracy is deployment within the General Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Subsequent to deployment, the employment of position of first deputy involves observing the procedure of appointment or, if appropriate, the delegation procedure prescribed by law for this office.
Law no.303/2004 uses two institutions to address the need for temporary employment of some offices:
- Delegation - conceived as a way of filling a position for short periods of time to ensure the functioning of the court / prosecutor’s office, up to employment by appointment in an office ( example, Article 57 para. (4) of Law no.303/2004). In case of prosecutors, the maximum period for delegation does not exceed one year.
- Deployment - involves an activity of longer duration (up to 6 years) within the courts / prosecutor’s offices, other public authorities, for better exercise of the activity of these institutions and not to respond to urgent and exceptional cases.
Use of the deployment procedure in case of management offices vacancy, instead of delegation institution - the latter being expressly regulated by law as a way of filling a vacant managerial or executive position for a short period of time, to ensure the functioning of the court / prosecutor’s office, until the appointment in an office- is likely to deprive of substance both the delegation institution, considering the length of appointment by deployment (up to 6 years) .
Also, even applying by similarity the deployment instead delegation, we find that, in the given circumstances, the replacement is not possible.
If in case of all other offices, competence to decide on delegation belongs to the Superior Council of Magistracy, so, by analogy, deployment competence would lie with the Council, with respect to the office of first deputy prosecutor general; the law provides that the delegation is decided by the Prosecutor General and not by the Council.