General information

Vetting Commission

The Vetting Commission has been established under Law 65 of March 30, 2023, concerning the external evaluation of judges and candidates for the position of judge of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ), with the stated purpose of undertaking a one-time evaluation of the ethical and financial integrity of certain categories of Moldova’s judges. The evaluation is an exceptional exercise, unique and limited in time.

The Commission's activities are categorized into three distinct types of evaluation: vetting of incumbent and future SCJ judges, pre-vetting of candidates for the position of member of the Superior Council of Magistracy (SCM) and the two boards under the jurisdiction of the SCM and vetting of certain categories of judges, as stipulated in Law 252/2023.

The Vetting Commission consists of 6 members, appointed by the vote of 3/5 of the elected deputies, as follows: a) 3 members, citizens of the Republic of Moldova — on the proposal of parliamentary factions, respecting the proportional representation of the majority and the opposition; b) 3 members — at the proposal of the development partners. The six members were appointed by Parliament on June 15, 2023, with a 3/5 majority vote of the elected deputies.

The Evaluation Commission has a Secretariat, which is a structure without legal personality. The Secretariat is independent of any public authority or institution and functions solely for the purpose of assisting the Commission in the
performance of its duties. The organization and functioning of the Secretariat and its staffing are laid down in the Rules of Organization and Functioning of the Vetting Commission.

In exercising its mandate, the Commission shall have the following powers:

collect, accumulate and verify, by means not prohibited by law, all information relevant to the assessment;
access any information system containing information relevant to the fulfilment of its mandate;
request information from the subject of the assessment;
request and obtain information free of charge from other natural and legal persons governed by public or private law, including financial institutions;
hear the subject of the assessment and other persons who have information relevant to the assessment;
carry out the evaluation and approve reports on the results of the evaluation.

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General information

Vetting Commission

The Commission works in compliance with the provisions of Law 65/2023, Law 26/2022 and Law 252/2023 and is governed by the following principles:

independence of its Commission members

fairness in its evaluation procedures

publicity of the acts issued in the evaluation process

exceptional nature of the evaluation