In brief

  • The Constitutional Court rejected as inadmissible a plea seeking to strike down the current rule on when the deadline for challenging enforcement proceedings starts to run.
  • In practice, nothing changes: the 15-day deadline for filing a challenge still runs from the date the enforcement approval order is received, the date the payment notice is received, or the date the debtor became aware of the first enforcement act.
  • The decision is final and generally binding, so it definitively closes this avenue for challenging the legal text.
Act: Decision of the Constitutional Court no. 211/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania no. 654 of 7 August 2026
Ruled: 5 March 2026

The Constitutional Court has rejected, as inadmissible, the plea of unconstitutionality raised against the rule establishing when the deadline for challenging enforcement proceedings starts to run. Decizia nr. 211/2026, published in the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) nearly five months after it was issued, confirms the current text of art. 715 alin. (1) pct. 3 din Codul de procedură civilă and closes an avenue opened in 2021 by a debtor who challenged the way courts calculate this deadline, including in sensitive situations such as garnishment of a retirement pension.

The case originated in a challenge to enforcement that the courts dismissed as time-barred. The author of the plea argued that the law does not clearly define the moment of „becoming aware of the first enforcement act,” leaving room for differing interpretations from one case to another, with dramatic consequences for those who challenge enforcement late. However, the Court held that the issue raised concerns how the courts apply the law in specific cases, not the unconstitutionality of the text itself, and that this type of criticism does not fall within the Constitutional Court’s jurisdiction.

What it changes in practice

For those currently in enforcement proceedings, the decision changes nothing in how deadlines are calculated: the rule remains the one in the Code of Civil Procedure, applied by the courts exactly as before. The real effect is different: it definitively eliminates any hope of challenging this text on constitutional grounds, and courts will no longer need to examine similar arguments raised as a plea of unconstitutionality, they will be able to reject such requests directly, citing this decision.

For lawyers and practitioners, the decision confirms that any challenge to enforcement filed after the 15-day deadline from the first known enforcement act risks dismissal as time-barred, without the possibility of invoking the law’s lack of clarity as a ground of unconstitutionality.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

  • Nothing in the text: art. 715 alin. (1) pct. 3 din Codul de procedură civilă remains unchanged.
  • An avenue of challenge is closed: the argument that „the law is unclear regarding this deadline” can no longer be used as a plea of unconstitutionality in other cases.
  • Case law confirmed: the Court reaffirms, citing earlier decisions (nr. 188/2015, nr. 504/2014), that how courts interpret the law cannot be challenged through constitutional review.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • Predictability: the 15-day deadline rule remains stable, with no risk of a sudden change in case law.
  • Courts can more quickly dismiss challenges based on the same argument, which has already been settled.

What remains a problem

  • The exact moment of „becoming aware of the first enforcement act” remains, in practice, a matter of case-by-case interpretation, exactly what the author of the plea complained about.
  • People without legal training remain vulnerable to missing the 15-day deadline because of the practical uncertainty surrounding this reference point.

Practical advice

  1. If your account or income has been garnished: check immediately the date you found out about the garnishment (bank statement, bank notice, conversation with your employer), that is when the 15-day deadline for challenging it starts.
  2. If you receive a payment notice or an enforcement approval order: the deadline runs from the date you received it, not from the date the garnishment actually took effect.
  3. Do not wait until you are „sure” of every detail: if in doubt, file the challenge within 15 days of the first signal (notice, garnishment, notification), you can add further grounds later, but the filing deadline itself cannot be extended.
  4. Consult a bailiff or a lawyer as soon as you learn of an enforcement act, especially if the garnished income is a pension or a rarely used account.

Frequently asked questions

What did the Constitutional Court decide?
It rejected, as inadmissible, the request challenging the constitutionality of the rule setting the 15-day deadline for challenging enforcement proceedings. The law remains unchanged.
When does the 15-day deadline for challenging enforcement start running?
From the date the enforcement approval order is received, from the date the payment notice is received, or, if neither was received, from the date the debtor became aware of the first enforcement act.
Why was the plea rejected, if the problem raised was real?
Because, according to the Court, the issue concerned how the courts apply the law in specific cases, not the unconstitutionality of the legal text itself. This type of criticism falls under the jurisdiction of the courts, not the Constitutional Court.
Can this legal text still be challenged on constitutional grounds?
Not with the same argument: the decision is final and generally binding, so courts will directly reject similar pleas without a new review on the merits.
What should I do if I have already missed the 15-day deadline?
Consult a lawyer urgently: in certain exceptional situations (for example, proof that you could not have found out about the enforcement in any way) separate procedural avenues may exist, but the general 15-day deadline rule remains strictly applied after this decision.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, its official form of publication in the Official Gazette.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 654 of 7 August 2026 8 pages PDF, 85 KB the act starts on page 4

Open the official PDFDownload the PDF

The viewer is not shown on small screens. Use the buttons above to open or download the file.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.