Inadmissibility of request for preliminary ruling on ex officio reopening of proceedings following interlocutory decision under Civil Procedure Code

The High Court of Cassation and Justice dismissed as inadmissible the connected referrals from the Bucharest Court of Appeal, meaning no preliminary ruling was issued and the pending labor and social insurance cases returned to the referring courts without a uniform interpretation. The dispute concerned whether the reopening of a case’s judgment following the issuance of a preliminary ruling is a procedural act that the court must perform ex officio, specifically challenging the interpretation of the interplay between the Civil Procedure Code provisions on preliminary rulings and procedural acts. The decisive legal basis involved Article 520 paragraph (4) read in relation to Article 416 paragraph (3) of the Civil Procedure Code, with the dismissal grounded in Article 521 paragraph (3) of the same Code, establishing that the specific procedural question raised did not meet the admissibility requirements for a binding preliminary ruling by the supreme court.