Law transferring Constanta Port shares to Local Council free of charge runs counter constitution

The Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) ruled on Thursday that the instructions of the Law on the free-of-charge transfer of more than 1.3 million share package held by the state in the National Company of the Administration of Maritime Ports S.A. Constanta accounting for 20 percent of the share capital to the Local Council of the Black Sea port of Constanta run counter the Romanian constitution.

The Court, in a unanimous vote thus sustained the challenge put forward by the Ombudsman to the act on Sept. 9.

The ruling is final and generally binding.

According to the Ombudsman, the challenged act dents the ownership right of the state and the administrative-territorial units as set in Article 136 para (2) of the constitution, since such ownership right can only be held by the state and the administrative-territorial units, namely rural towns, towns, cities and counties, not by the local or county councils, which are deliberative authorities.AGERPRES