Based on its invocation into a civil case before the Bucharest Tribunal – 5th Civil Department, the Constitutional Court of Romania has allowed the unconstitutional exception of the provisions of art. 4 (2^nd thesis) from Law no 165/2013 regarding the measures to finalize the process of restoration, in nature or by equivalent, of the real estate abusively appropriated during the communist regime in Romania.

In accordance with art.4, the provisions of Law no 165/2013 find their applicability in regard with the cases which their object is related with the restoration of the lands and real estate previously abusively retrieved during the totalitarian regime, pending before the courts of law at the entry into force of the concerned regulation.
The Constitutional Court established that the normative act confers to the new procedural norms retroactive effects, which contravenes to the legal general rules imposed by art.15 from the Constitution of Romania. The only allowed exceptions from the law non-retroactivity principle – mandatory rule from which no derogation is permit in civil matters – are related with the more favorable provisions regarding the penal law or contravention law.
Thus, the Constitutional Court had allowed the invoked exception and has established that the art. 4 (2^nd thesis) from Law no165/2013 are unconstitutional, to the extent that the terms established in the contents of the normative act (respectively through art. 33) shall not be applied also for the cases in the real estate abusively taken restoration matters, pending before the Courts in law at the entry into force of the concerned law.