Constitutional and Legal Framework of Public Administration
What this domain tests
These questions check whether you can place any administrative action inside Moldova's hierarchy of norms and say which body is competent to adopt, review or annul it.
Core rules
- The 1994 Constitution is supreme. Article 1(3) describes the Republic of Moldova as a democratic state governed by law, in which human dignity and human rights are supreme values.
- Ratified international treaties form part of domestic law and prevail over conflicting national provisions (Article 4); the ECHR is directly applicable.
- Organic laws cover the Government, local public administration, public office and the budget; ordinary laws, Government decisions and ordinances, ministerial orders and local acts sit below them.
- Public administration is dual: central (Government, ministries, central agencies) and local (district and local councils, mayors), founded on local autonomy, decentralisation, electivity and consultation of citizens.
- Constitutionality is reviewed by the Constitutional Court (Law No. 317/1994); the legality of administrative acts is reviewed by administrative courts.
Worked example
A ministry order requires municipal employees to file asset declarations with the ministry, although Law No. 133/2016 assigns declarations to the National Integrity Authority. Step 1: rank the act - a ministerial order is subordinate to organic law. Step 2: check competence - a ministry cannot relocate a duty fixed by law. Step 3: conclusion - the order conflicts with a higher norm and is illegal for lack of competence; the statutory duty continues to apply and the order can be annulled.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing a Government ordinance with a ministerial order; assuming local autonomy means councils may disregard statute; mixing the Constitutional Court's control of norms with the administrative courts' control of individual acts; forgetting that a ratified treaty may prevail over a domestic statute.