Press release – Panel for the Clarification of Certain Points of Law in Criminal Matters in its session of 25 January 2021
High Court of Review and Justice
PRESS RELEASE
In its session of 25 January 2021, the High Court of Review and Justice – Panel for the Clarification of Certain Points of Law in Criminal Matters, lawfully established in the case, considered a request for preliminary ruling for the clarification of certain points of law, and returned the following Judgment:
Judgment #4 in case #2534/1/2020
Sustains the request from the Court of Appeals Brașov – Chamber for Criminal Matters in case #9010/197/2019, for a preliminary ruling for the clarification of the following point of law: “If the action of opening and using an account on a public social network (a network that does not require evidence that the account holder is using their real name), and sets their user name as the name of another individual and, by inputting real data concerning that individual (information, photographs, videos, etc.), achieves the conditions for the finding of a crime of electronic counterfeiting stipulated at Art. 325 in the Criminal Code, in terms of its requirement that the action of inputting electronic data should have been performed without authorization and also should result in information that is untrue” and rules that:
The action of opening and using an account on a public social network, setting one’s user name as the name another individual and inputting real personal data that allow the identification of that other individual meets two of the essential requirements of the crime of electronic counterfeiting stipulated at Art. 325 in the Criminal Code, in terms of its requirement that the action of inputting electronic data should have been performed without authorization that the action of inputting electronic data should result in information that is untrue.
Obligatory as of the date of publication in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I under Art 477 para. (3) in the Criminal Procedure Code.
Returned in public session today, the 25th of January 2021.
After the justification is written and the Judgment signed it shall be published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I.
OFFICE FOR PUBLIC INFORMATION AND RELATIONS