PG Lazar: Protocols not pieces of legislation, but working methodologies with internal character

Protocols are not pieces of legislation, but working methodologies of good practice with internal character, and their non-observance is not sanctioned, on Tuesday said Prosecutor General Augustin Lazar in reference to the notification of the Constitutional Court by the Chamber of Deputies' Speaker. 

"The protocols are not pieces of legislation. They who say so are exaggerating, in my opinion. They are working methodologies of good practice with internal character for the institutions that are using them in law enforcement. By no means are they pieces of legislation, because we shall see that by non-observing those good practice rules is not punishable at all. Two institutions simply decide on the grounds of the law and establish certain rules on how they should act so that they can enforce the law," Lazar said at the Supreme Council of Magistrates (CSM) when asked about how he comments on the CCR being notified in reference to the protocols. 

On Monday, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies has notified the CCR for the settlement of a judicial conflict between Parliament and the Public Prosecution Service on the SRI (Romanian Intelligence Service) - Prosecutor General's Office protocol. The notification was signed by the Chamber's Vice Speaker Florin Iordache, given that Liviu Dragnea has delegated his duties to the former for 8 October. 

Florin Iordache had declared a few days ago in the Judicial Committee's sitting that he was analysing the possibility to notify the CCR over an institutional conflict on the topic of the protocols concluded between the PG and the SRI, from 2009 and 2016, saying that the Prosecutor General has given the SRI increased powers, thus turning it in a criminal prosecution body.