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ICCJ_142119 AI generated

Bodily injury under influence of alcohol: No minimum blood alcohol threshold required for criminal liability

Case Number ICCJ_142119
Court / Authority
Jurisdiction Romania (RO)
Decision Date
Outcome Allowed / Granted
Open official source Machine-readable Markdown (.md)

Legislator summary

AI generated

The High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania, sitting as the Panel for Resolving Legal Issues in Criminal Matters, established that the commission of bodily injury through negligence under the influence of alcoholic beverages is not conditioned by a specific minimum blood alcohol concentration, thereby clarifying that criminal liability attaches to any detectable level of alcohol. This decision resolved a preliminary reference submitted by the Court of Appeal of Bacau regarding the interpretation of the phrase "under the influence of alcoholic beverages" in the Criminal Code, addressing a dispute over whether the statutory language required a quantified threshold of intoxication or applied to any presence of alcohol detectable by technical or medico-legal means. The court based its ruling on the interpretation of Article 196(1), first sentence, of the Criminal Code, referencing the underlying offense in Article 193(2), and determined that the normative modality does not incorporate the specific limits found in other provisions such as Article 336(1), thus expanding the scope of liability to any measurable alcohol consumption.

Legislator headnote

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art.477 alin. (3) din Codul de procedură penală; Bodily injury under influence of alcohol: No minimum blood alcohol threshold required for criminal liability: This decision resolved a preliminary reference submitted by the Court of Appeal of Bacau regarding the interpretation of the phrase "under the influence of alcoholic beverages" in the Criminal Code, addressing a dispute over whether the statutory language required a quantified threshold of intoxication or applied to any presence of alcohol detectable by technical or medico-legal means. The court based its ruling on the interpretation of Article 196(1), first sentence, of the Criminal Code, referencing the underlying offense in Article 193(2), and determined that the normative modality does not incorporate the specific limits found in other provisions such as Article 336(1), thus expanding the scope of liability to any measurable alcohol consumption.

Keywords

AI generated
criminal negligence statutory limits minimum sentence accidental bodily injury alcohol abuse aggravated drunk driving

Cited Legislation

AI generated
art.477 alin. (3) din Codul de procedură penală
Cited in the final operative clause to establish the binding nature of the decision from the date of publication in the Official Journal.
AI generated
Decizia nr. 8/2018
Drunk-driving injury offence requires proof of alcohol, not threshold; preliminary ruling admitted.
ICCJ_158633
Scope of criminal liability for entrusting a vehicle to a driver under alcohol influence: requirement of blood alcohol concentration exceeding 0.80 g/l under Article 335(3) of the Penal Code
Decizia nr. 347/RC/2022
Drunk driving: typicity of the offense and temporal relevance of blood alcohol tests
Decizia nr. 238/RC/2022
Drunk driving: Criminal liability under Art. 336 Penal Code vs. contravention and relevance of first blood sample timing per CC No. 732/2014
Decizia nr. 14/2020
Penal Code Art. 335(3) vehicle entrustment: Blood alcohol threshold requirement for "influence of alcohol"

Key legal questions extracted by Legislator

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art.477 alin. (3) din Codul de procedură penală

Cited in the final operative clause to establish the binding nature of the decision from the date of publication in the Official Journal.

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Full text

R O M Â N I A

ÎNALTA CURTE DE CASAŢIE ŞI JUSTIŢIE

COMPLETUL PENTRU DEZLEGAREA UNOR CHESTIUNI DE DREPT

ÎN MATERIE PENALĂ

Minuta deciziei nr.8 Dosar nr. 664/1/2018

Şedinţa din data de 23 mai 2018

ÎN NUMELE LEGII

D E C I D E:

Admite sesizarea formulată de Curtea de Apel Bacău – Secţia penală şi pentru cauze cu minori şi de familie în dosarul nr.4920/270/2016, prin care se solicită pronunţarea unei hotărâri prealabile pentru dezlegarea de principiu a următoarei chestiuni de drept „dacă pentru întrunirea tipicităţii infracţiunii prevăzute de art.196 alin.(1) din Codul penal, privind vătămarea corporală din culpă, sintagma din teza I a acestui text incriminator, respectiv „(…) sub influenţa băuturilor alcoolice (…)”, trebuie interpretată ca referindu-se la un anumit grad de îmbibaţie de alcool pur în sânge, eventual cel indicat de legiuitor la art.336 alin.(1) din Codul penal, sau, indiferent de gradul de îmbibaţie alcoolică în sânge, este atrasă răspunderea penală a oricărei persoane care săvârşeşte o vătămare corporală din culpă sub această modalitate normativă, dacă a consumat alcool depistabil prin mijloace tehnice sau medico-legale prevăzute de legislaţie.”

Stabileşte că, în interpretarea dispoziţiilor art.196 alin.(1) teza I din Codul penal, care incriminează fapta prevăzută în art.193 alin.(2) din Codul penal săvârşită din culpă de către o persoană aflată sub influenţa băuturilor alcoolice, existenţa infracţiunii de vătămare corporală din culpă nu este condiţionată de o anumită limită a îmbibaţiei alcoolice.

Obligatorie de la data publicării în Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, potrivit art.477 alin. (3) din Codul de procedură penală.

Pronunţată în şedinţă publică astăzi, 23 mai 2018.