availability of translators and interpreters. Although the law is an important step, it does not provide for the training of legal translators and interpreters or budgetary support for new fees. Further legislation by the government to address these issues is expected. Several amendments have been made to the Law on Judicial Organization, the Law on the Status of Judges and the Law on the Superior Council of Magistrates since their adoption. However, to date, no assessment has been done on the impact of these new laws and amendments. Such an assessment is beyond the scope of this report and the amendments of the indicated laws are only noted as fact. Several important decisions and measures to ensure and/or create conditions for implementing the right to a fair trial have been made by the Superior Council of Magistrates. The Council has adopted decisions on random assignment of cases in the courts19 and on the access of trial participants and their representatives to judges’ offices.20 The Council has also adopted an Ethical Code for Judges21 and a regulation regarding the publishing of judicial decisions and judgments online.22 The websites of the Supreme Court of Justice (www.csj. md) and of the Superior Council of Magistrates (www.csj.md) have been improved, and the website of the Courts of Appeals (http://ca.justice.md) has been launched. The courts in Moldova are entitled to judicial police. These police must be provided by the Ministry of Justice. The necessary number of such judicial police, the means for maintaining them and the regulation of their activity are approved by the Government at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice and the Superior Council of Magistrates. The main tasks of judicial police are (i) to ensure the security of court premises and assets, judges and other trial participants, public order on court premises and during court hearings; (ii) to bring to court by force persons who refuse to appear willingly; (iii) to control entry to and exit from the court, including personal searches.23 Although judicial police were to be transferred under the Ministry of Justice in July 2006, this transfer has been postponed until “when necessary conditions are created but no later than 1 January 2010.”24 In 2009, for the first time, the judiciary budget was adopted according to the procedures stipulated in Article 121 of the Constitution and Article 22 of the Law on Judicial Organization. The budget was approved by the Parliament at the proposal of the Superior Council of Magistrates. Under previous procedures, the Ministry of Finance set the maximum figure and the Ministry of Justice was directly involved in drafting the budget. This new procedure has gone a long way toward ensuring the financial independence of the judiciary, but the lack of personnel in the Superior Council of Magistrates and the confusion between the competencies of this body and those of the Department for Administration of Justice within Superior Council of Magistrates, Ministry of Justice, prosecution offices, criminal investigation bodies, courts, notaries, lawyers and court bailiffs, No. ������������������������������������������������������� 264 of 11 December 2008, to enter into force on 20 September 2009. 19 �������������������������������������������������������������������������� Decision of the Superior Council of Magistrates No. 68/3 of 1 March 2007. 20 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Decision of the Superior Council of Magistrates No. 351/12 of 15 November 2007. 21 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Decision of the Superior Council of Magistrates No. 366/15 of 29 November 2007, which entered into force on 1 January 2008. 22 ������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Decision of the Superior Council of Magistrates No. 472/21 of 18 December 2008. 23 ������������������������������������������������������������ See for details see Art. 50 of Law on Judicial Organization. 24 ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Law regarding the amendment of article VI of the Law No. 247-XVI of 21 July 2006 regarding the amendment of certain legislative acts, No. 169 of 19 July 2007, entered into force on 3 August 2007. 14