Amendments to the Regulations of the Administrative Offenses Code

Deputies of the Committee on Legislation, Protection of Citizens' Rights and Freedoms Galina Antyufeeva, Grigory Dyachenko and Oleg Petrik proposed making changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses. Their law-in-draft is intended to specify the place for considering a complaint against a decision on an administrative offense that has not entered into legal force. The Code of Administrative Offenses prescribes currently the possibility of appealing a decision to a higher authority, to a higher official or to a district (city) court at the place of consideration of the case. The authors propose to clearly define the right to appeal to the court of the city or district where the administrative offense was directly committed, and in the case of filing a petition – at the place of residence of the person who filed the complaint. 

Taking into consideration the amendment of the relevant committee, the proposed law-in-draft on amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses was decided to be considered in two readings at the plenary session of the Supreme Council. 

The second law-in-draft, initiated by the deputies of the Committee on Legislation, concerns the adjustment of the norm on administrative offenses in the field of road traffic, so that the offender is not held liable twice for the same offense. Such facts of double liability have occurred in practice. For example, a person could be issued a fine for an offense that resulted in significant damage to vehicles, and at the same time for driving through a red light. According to the information of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, 238 persons were held liable for an administrative offense provided for in Article 12.25 of the Code (for an offense that resulted in damage to vehicles or harm to health) last year. At the same time, 40 persons were held administratively liable, including for violating traffic rules at the time of committing this offense. Therefore, the Committee deputies want to bring the norms of the Code of Administrative Offences into line with the norm on the impossibility of bearing administrative responsibility twice for the same offence. The law-in-draft was supported in the course of the Committee meeting for adoption in the first reading. The changes will be submitted for consideration to the Supreme Council.