The Judges' Section of the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) has announced plans for consultations with courts across the country, as well as with representatives of lawyers and other legal professions, in order to implement a "standardization mechanism" designed to ensure a fairer assignment of cases and an optimal workload for judges.
"Given the current situation in the judicial system, the exponential increase in the workload and the chronic shortage of human resources in courts, as well as the aspects highlighted following the consultation with the judges carried out by the CSM in December 2025, it is essential to streamline court activity while prioritizing the quality of justice. The Judges' Section, together with representatives of the civil society, consider it necessary to finalize steps that will secure an optimal volume of activity for judges, through the realistic norming of their work and by relieving judicial activity," the CSM said in a release.
The envisaged mechanism is based on the following principles: adjusting the number of cases handled by each court according to its real capacity at a given time; norming the number of cases per judge by reference to European data; determining the daily capacity of each court based on the number of registered cases and the number of active judges; applying norming at the level of court/legal matter; and ensuring random and balanced distribution of cases among panels, while also accounting for case complexity. The norming mechanism does not exclude distribution by complexity points, but rather complements it.
Rules for determining daily capacity: if more cases are registered than the court's daily capacity, only those within the norm will be distributed, with the rest placed on a waiting list. If fewer cases are registered, the difference is carried over to the next day. Waiting list cases follow the FIFO rule (first in, first out). Urgent cases, defined by the CSM, are distributed the same day and counted in the daily capacity. If urgent cases exceed capacity, all are distributed, with the deficit carried forward, aiming to maintain the norm at the annual level.
The CSM announced the following steps for implementing the mechanism: consulting the courts, representatives of the National Union of Romanian Bar Associations and other legal professions on possible difficulties - by January 23, 2026; finalizing the analysis of legislative amendment proposals to ease court workload - by January 30, 2026; sending resulting regulatory proposals to legislative bodies - by February 2, 2026; finalizing the standardization mechanism and adjusting the relevant secondary legislation - by February 27, 2026; implementing standardization measures in courts - by March 2, 2026.
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