Ex officio invocation of the statute of limitations for the execution of misdemeanor sanctions in complaint proceedings

The High Court of Cassation and Justice admitted the appeal in the public interest filed by the Barau Court of Appeal and established that, in disputes regarding misdemeanor complaints, the court may invoke the statute of limitations for the execution of the misdemeanor sanction ex officio. The dispute concerned the procedural application of the statute of limitations in administrative misdemeanor proceedings, specifically whether courts could raise the expiration of the enforcement period on their own motion without a party request. The decisive legal basis is Article 14(2) of Government Ordinance No. 2/2001 regarding the legal regime of misdemeanors, interpreted in conjunction with the mandatory nature of the decision under Article 517(4) of the Civil Procedure Code, which clarifies that the limitation of the execution of the sanction is a matter of public order that the court must verify ex officio.