Principiul neretroactivității în dreptul fiscal
The principle of non-retroactivity in tax law

Summary/Abstract: In national law, since the interbellic period, it has been indisputable that a law once adopted will only affect the future, a rule known as ”the non-retroactivity of the law”. Observing the national system of law in its evolution and actuality, as a reply given to the former Romanian legal system from 1944 to 1989, which approved a rich activity of constitutional justice, it recorded the transformation of a legal principle into a constitutional one. Thus since 1991, the non-retroactivity of the law, as a constitutional principle, has been mandatory for all branches of law, including tax law; any other contrary provisions of law might be disputed before the constitutional court. In one word, due to its current place in the Romanian Constitution, the principle of non-retroactivity is a fundamental guarantee of constitutional rights. Then we are in a social and economic dynamic that requires emergency measures that may collide with legal situations în progress, such as those containing tax regimes more favorable than the old ones, anti-abuse rules, or the need to avoid a potential conflict arising when implementing Union law. However, the constitutional value of the principle of non-retroactivity does not allow the tax legislator to adopt measures in line with the current needs of society. In the end, there is the issue of whether the constitutional transformation of the non-retroactivity in the form adopted by the constituent legislator, by reference to the specifics and limits of the tax law, is the only solution to guarantee the elimination of any abuses of legislation and strengthening legal certainty.

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