Consumption of alcohol or other psychoactive substances after a traffic accident. Brief opinions on a (re)incrimination

Abstract

In the summer of 2023, no less than five laws amending the Romanian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code were adopted by the legislator. Most of the provisions refer to the harmonization of the legislation with the last years decisions of the Constitutional Court, through a late but still salutary step. Others represent manifestations of a veritable repressive criminal policy, with accents that we dare to name as populist (Law no. 213/2013). Others are the effect of an increased desire by the legislator for an overcriminalization of sensitive areas, manifested by an excess of aggravating circumstances (Law 217/2023). However, our attention is drawn to a norm of (re)criminalization, found in Law no. 200/2023, by which the legislator "reactivates" a crime forgotten by the doctrine and case-law: the consumption of alcohol or other psychoactive substances after a traffic accident.

The recriminalization, almost ten years after the abolitio criminis, gives us the opportunity to analyse the history of the legal text and the rationale of the legislator. Then, we will try to discover whether, during the absence of this criminalization, the existence of a prohibition doubled by a presumption instituted by G.E.O. no. 195/2002 regarding traffic on public roads would have fulfilled this aspect. Further, we will observe what is the legal object of the crime, concluding that it concerns primarily the relations regarding the realization of justice. We also aim to delimit the premise of the crime, the material element and the connection with other offences. Finally, we observe the regulation of Swiss criminal law, identifying a practical solution in this sense.