Higher Council of Magistrates

Rules for the Entrance and

Graduation Examinations at the
National Institute for Magistrates

of 17 August 2005
Published in Official Journal, Part I,
Issue #823 of 12 September 2005

CHAPTER I
Entrance Examination at the National Institute for Magistrates

SECTION I
General Dispositions

Art. 1. – Accession to the magistrates’ profession and basic professional

training that will enable one to take up a position as a judge or prosecutor shall
take place through the National Institute for Magistrates.
Art. 2. – The entrance examination at the National Institute for Magistrates is
open for such individuals as meet the requirements at Art. 13, paragraph (2) of
Law #303/2004 on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors, as amended.
Art. 3. – Students at the National Institute for Magistrates shall have the status
of judicial trainees.

SECTION II
Organization of the Examination

Art. 4. – (1) The entrance examination shall be organized every year, at a date
and place set by the National Institute for Magistrates, under previous approval
by the Higher Council of Magistrates.
(2) The Higher Council of Magistrates shall set the number of student positions
every year, depending on the number of vacancies in the judicial and
prosecutorial systems, and also depending on the number of new positions that
are scheduled to be created.
(3) The date, place, procedure for the examination and number of students in a
given year shall be released in the Official Journal of Romania, Part III, as well as
on the websites of the Higher Council of Magistrates and the National Institute for
Magistrates, no later than 60 days before the date of the examination.
(4) The dates stipulated at paragraph (3) shall also be released in a press
communiqué, to be published in 3 national-circulation dailies.
(5) The topics and resource literature for the entrance examination shall be
posted on the websites of the Higher Council of Magistrates and the National
Institute for Magistrates, within the deadline stipulated at paragraph (3).
(6) The application forms for entrance at the National Institute for Magistrates
shall be developed by the Higher Council of Magistrates and sent to Tribunals
and Prosecutor’s Offices attached to said Tribunals, together with the topics for
examination and resource literature.
(7) On registering for the examination, candidates shall receive the application
form, one copy of these Rules, as well as the topics and the resource literature.
(8) All applications for examination registration shall be submitted no later than
30 days before the date of the examination, with the Tribunals and, as the case
may be, with the Prosecutor’s Offices attached to such Tribunals, of the
jurisdiction where the respective candidates reside.
(9) The registration application shall be accompanied by the following
documents:
a) copy of Birth Certificate;
b) copy of Identity Document;
c) copy of Law School graduation certificate or provisional certificate;
d) receipt for payment of registration fee;
e) criminal history certificate;
f) fiscal history certificate.
(10) The amount of registration fee shall be established in a decision by the
Higher Council of Magistrates, depending on the expenses required to organize
the entrance examination. The fee is payable at the Tribunal cash desk or, as the
case may be, at the Prosecutors’ Office cash desk. For such fees the cash desks
shall use a distinct and separate receipt book. Receipts are to be made in
triplicate, and the original as well as first copy shall be handed to the candidate.
The amounts thus obtained shall be sent, through a payment order, to the
account of the Higher Council of Magistrates.
(11) Presidents of Tribunals and, as the case may be, Chief Prosecutors of the
Prosecutors’ offices attached to Tribunals, shall submit the candidates’
documents to the Higher Council of Magistrates no later than 25 days before the
date of the entrance examination.
Art. 5. – (1) The Higher Council of Magistrates shall appoint, based on
nominations submitted by the National Institute for Magistrates, the examination
committee, the committee in charge of designing the examination subjects and
the committee for appeals.
(2) The chairperson of the examination committee shall be appointed by the
Higher Council of Magistrates from among its own members.
Art. 6. – (1) The examination committee shall organize and supervise the
examination, shall examine the candidates and shall grade the written tests.
(2) The examination committee shall verify compliance with the provisions of
Art. 13 paragraph (2) of Law #303/2004, as amended.
(3) The results of the examination shall be posted at the National Institute for
Magistrates as well as at the Tribunals and Prosecutors’ Offices attached to
Tribunals, and shall also be posted on the websites of the Higher Council of
Magistrates and the National Institute for Magistrates, no later than 15 days after
the examination.
(4) Candidates who failed in the examination can file appeals no later than 3
days after the results were posted.
 (5) Appeals shall be adjudicated by the appeals committee within 48 hours of
the after the deadline stipulated at paragraph (4). The decision of the appeals
committee is final.

SECTION III
Examination Procedure

Art. 7. – (1) The entrance examination shall have two stages.

(2) The first stage consists of testing the candidates’ knowledge of the law, in a
multiple-answer written test format, and candidates who fail this stage cannot
take the second stage. The test topics are:
a) civil law;
b) civil procedure law;
c) criminal law;
d) criminal procedure law.
(3) The second stage consists of the following:
a) a written test that requires the candidate to find solutions for cases
pertaining to civil law, civil procedure law, criminal law, criminal procedure law;
b) a multiple-answer written test that addresses the candidate’s logical
reasoning;
c) an interview.
Art. 8. – (1) The multiple-answer written test comprises 100 questions, 25 for
each of the examination disciplines stipulated at Art. 7 paragraph (2) lett. a)-d).
(2) The candidate gets one point for each correct answer in the multiple-answer
written test.
(3) The tests will be graded “admitted” or “rejected,” depending on the
candidate’s score. Candidates who score a minimum of 80 points are admitted in
the second stage.
Art. 9. – The results after the pass/fail test shall be posted at the National
Institute for Magistrates and at the Tribunals and Prosecutors’ Offices attached to
them as well as on the websites of the National Institute for Magistrates and the
Higher Council of Magistrates.
Art. 10. – (1) Candidates can challenge the score they obtained at the pass/fail
test. They can appeal that scoring at the National Institute for Magistrates or at
the Tribunals and, respectively, Prosecutors’ Offices attached to them, where
they registered as candidates for the test. The appeal must be filed within 48
hours of the date the results were posted. Immediately after reception and
registration the appeals shall be faxed at the National Institute for Magistrates.
(2) The corner of the challenged test shall be re-sealed before its review by the
appeal body.
(3) The appeals shall be addressed by the appeals committee, within 3 days of
the expiration of the deadline stipulated at paragraph (1).
Art. 11. – (1) One day before the second stage of the test, the committee in
charge of designing the examination subjects shall establish 3 alternative sets of
subjects for each discipline.
 (2) The examination subjects shall be placed in separate sealed envelopes, to
be opened on the day of the test, after the candidates enter the examination
room, in their view. All those operations shall be mentioned in the report on the
test.
(3) The examination subjects for the written tests shall be selected by drawing
lots, after which they will be xeroxed and handed to the delegates in the
examination rooms.
(4) It will be the delegate’s task to communicate the subjects, the time when the
test is scheduled to begin and the time the test is scheduled to end.
(5) Throughout the written test the only persons with access to the examination
rooms shall be the members of the examination committee and the delegates
who supervise the test.
Art. 12. – (1) Access for candidates in the examination rooms shall be allowed
only if their name is on the list for each of the rooms and if they are able to
produce an identity document and the examination access card that was issued
them on first entering the examination room. The candidates shall keep their
identity document and examination access card visible throughout the duration of
the tests.
(2) Possession of any communication device in the examination room is
forbidden. Possession of any source of information in the examination room
during the pass/fail test is forbidden. Violation of any of those restrictions entails
expulsion from the examination. During the written test of stage 2 of the exam,
that entails finding a solution to case studies, candidates shall have the right to
carry and use the texts of the various applicable laws with them, but such texts
cannot include commentaries or side-notes.
(3) Candidates who are not present in the examination room at the moment the
envelope containing the subjects is opened shall lose the right to take the
respective test.
(4) Candidates shall receive paper to write on during written tests. That paper
will carry the stamp of the Higher Council of Magistrates. Candidates shall only
be allowed to write in blue ink, with a fountain pen or a ballpoint pen. In the
multiple-answer tests candidates shall only be allowed to use black ink ballpoint
pens.
(5) Before the subjects for the written test are communicated, candidates shall
write their name and surname, county of residence or, as the case may be,
“Bucharest” and the serial number of their examination access card in the corner
of their sheets of paper, which will afterwards be folded over and sealed.
(6) The person in charge of the examination room shall communicate the
subjects as well as the start and ending time for the test.
Art. 13. – (1) The time allotted for the written tests shall be established by the
committee in charge of designing the examination subjects and cannot exceed 4
hours. When that time has expired the candidate shall hand over his/her exam
paper, and sign to attest that he/she surrendered it, to the person in charge of the
examination room, who shall record in a ledger the number of pages the
candidate’s exam paper had and apply the stamp of the Higher Council of
Magistrates.
 (2) The person in charge of the examination room shall afterwards hand over
the examination papers to the examination committee, who shall number them
and register them in the unified ledger borderoul centralizator.
(3) Candidates cannot leave the examination room throughout the written
examination. Temporary exit from the room for a candidate can only be allowed
exceptionally and in such case another person will accompany the candidate.
(4) Proven fraud entails expulsion from the examination. In such cases the
person in charge of the examination room shall record, in a report, the facts as
they occurred and the steps he/she took, and the examination paper shall be
stricken out of the roster and inscribed with the word "Fraud". Copies of the fraud
report shall be handed to the chairperson of the examination committee and to
the respective candidate.
(5) One ledger for examination papers and one exam report shall be made for
each of the examination rooms.
Art. 14. – (1) Examination papers shall be graded based on the criteria and
thresholds set by the committee in charge of designing the examination subjects,
for each test subject, and the thresholds shall be posted at the end of the test.
(2) The grading of examination papers shall be performed by two members of
the examination committee, independently from each other, each with a separate
ledger for grades. The final grade of an examination paper shall be the arithmetic
average of the 4 grades in the four topics mentioned at Art. 7 paragraph (3) letter
a). If the difference between those grades exceeds one point, another member of
the committee, who specializes in the respective domain, shall act as an arbiter.
It will then the arbiter who establishes the final grade at this test.
(3) During the grading procedure the examination paper’s sealed corner shall
stay sealed. The various grades shall be recorded in the ledger and each
individual examiner shall sign for his/her grades. The final grade shall be
inscribed on the examination paper by the chairperson of the examination
committee and afterwards inputted in the examination committee’s database.
After those operations are performed the corner of the examination paper shall
be unsealed and the number of the paper shall be correlated to the name and
surname of an individual candidate. In both the written examination on case
studies test and the logical reasoning test, the corner of the examination paper
shall only be unsealed after all candidates have taken the interview.
Art. 15. – The written test shall be graded on a scale of 1 to 10 and the grade
shall be expressed by a number with two decimal points. Grade 1 will be given
when the candidate’s score is below or equal to 1.
Art. 16. – (1) The multiple-answer logical reasoning test consists of 100
questions.
(2) Each of the answers is worth 0.1 points.
(3) The provisions of Art. 11 – 15 shall apply accordingly.
Art. 17. – (1) The candidates shall take an interview before the examination
committee. The interview will consist of a set of questions meant to identify the
candidate’s skills, motivations and ethics as required by the profession.
(2) Members on the interview committee are one psychologist, one judge and
one prosecutor.
 (3) The provisions of Art. 15 shall apply accordingly.
(4) The grade obtained by a candidate at this test shall be the arithmetic
average of grades given by the members of the committee. That grade is final
and cannot be challenged.
Art. 18. – (1) The final grade a candidate obtains after the entire examination
procedure is an addition of the three grades obtained in the three components of
stage 2, calculated as follows: examination of the candidate’s knowledge of the
law – 80%; logical reasoning test – 10%; interview – 10%.
(2) Based on this final grade obtained in stage 2 of the examination, candidates
will be placed in ranking order on a table which shall be posted at the National
Institute for Magistrates, the Higher Council of Magistrates and the Tribunals and
Prosecutors’ Offices attached to them, as well as on the websites of the Higher
Council of Magistrates and the National Institute for Magistrates.
(3) In order to be accepted as a judicial trainee at the National Institute for
Magistrates a candidate must obtain a general average of at least 7 (seven), but
no less than (five) in each of the 4 disciplines of the written examination that
consisted of solving case studies.
(4) Candidates with equal grades shall be ranked in the order of their average
at the disciplines listed at Art. 7 paragraph (2) letters a)-d).
Art. 19. – (1) The candidates can challenge the grades obtained at the written
examination and the multiple-answer logical reasoning test. Such appeals shall
be filed with the National Institute for Magistrates or the Tribunals, or
Prosecutors’ Offices attached to them, where they registered as candidates,
within 48 hours of the date the results were posted. Immediately after
registration, appeals filed with Tribunals, or Prosecutors’ Offices attached to
them, shall be faxed to the National Institute for Magistrates.
(2) The corner of the paper under appeal shall be resealed.
(3) Appeals shall be addressed by the appeals committee within 3 days of the
expiry of the term stipulated at paragraph (1). Grades granted after the
examination of appeals cannot be lower than the grades under challenge.
Grades granted by the appeals committee are final.
Art. 20. – (1) The candidates who have succeeded in the examination shall be
scheduled for a medical examination, to be performed by a medical committee
appointed through joint order by the Minister of Justice and the Minister of
Health, as well as for a psychological test.
(2) Through its inspectors, the Higher Council of Magistrates shall verify the
admitted candidates’ compliance with the condition of having a good reputation,
as stipulated at Art. 11 in Law #303/2004, as amended.
(3) The higher Council of Magistrates shall have authority to validate the results
of the entrance examination and to decide on the candidates’ compliance with
the conditions stipulated at paragraphs (1) and (2). Such candidates as are found
unable to exercise the profession from a medical or psychological point of view,
as well as those who do not have a good reputation, shall be declared as
rejected.
 (4) The Higher Council of Magistrates shall establish the definitive list of
candidates declared as admitted at the National Institute for Magistrates, and it
shall release that list to the public in the conditions of Art. 18 paragraph (2).
Art. 21. – The judicial trainee positions available at the National Institute for
Magistrates shall be taken, according to Art. 20 paragraph (4), by candidates
declared as admitted.

CHAPTER II
Graduation Exam at the National Institute for Magistrates

Art. 22. – (1) After completion of the courses at the National Institute for
Magistrates the judicial trainees shall take a graduation examination consisting of
theory and practical tests that will verify the acquisition of the knowledge and
skills needed in the exercise of the judicial or prosecutorial function.
(2) The disciplines for which the judicial trainees are to be evaluated throughout
the school year and that they have to take the graduation exam in, as well as the
methods of examination, shall be established by the Scientific Council of the
National Institute for Magistrates.
(3) The graduation exam shall be taken before an examination committee
appointed by the Higher Council of Magistrates, based on nominations made by
the National Institute for Magistrates. The examination committee shall be
comprised of 3 persons: one representative of the training staff at the Institute
and two judges or, as the case may be, two prosecutors.
(4) The final grade shall be the average of the grades awarded by each of the
three members of the graduation committee.
(5) The results of the graduation exam shall be posted at the National Institute
for Magistrates and on its website.
(6) The graduation grades can be challenged within 48 hours of their posting.
Such appeals shall be dealt with by the appeals committees, appointed by the
Higher Council of Magistrates based on nominations made by the National
Institute for Magistrates. The examination committee shall be comprised of 3
persons: one representative of the training staff at the Institute and two judges or,
as the case may be, two prosecutors. The members of the appeals committee
shall be different from the members of the examination committee.
(7) In order to become a graduate of the National Institute for Magistrates a
judicial trainee must obtain a general average of at least 7 (seven) and grades no
less than 5 (five) in each of the exam subjects.
(8) Graduates of the National Institute for Magistrates shall be issued with a
certificate which attests that they graduated from the Institute, in a specific class
and with a specific general average.
Art. 23. – (1) In case a judicial trainee fails the graduation exam in the first
session, he/she shall have the right to take that exam a second time in the next
session.
(2) Unjustified absence from the examination or failure to pass the examination
in the second session entails loss of the right to work as a judge or prosecutor. A
person in this situation shall reimburse the scholarship and school expenses.
 Art. 24. – Graduates from the National Institute for Magistrates shall be
assigned to positions by the Higher Council of Magistrates, based on their
general average. The general average is the arithmetic average of the final grade
of the two years of study and of the graduation exam.