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Law on theConstitutional Court

Entered into force1 July 1993.As amended up to 2003

(Excerpts)

SECOND PART

Proceedings before the Court

CHAPTER ONE

General Provisions

§ 27

The Institution of a Proceeding

 (1) A petition instituting a proceeding before the Court may be submitted by any person so authorized by this Statute [hereinafter "petitioner"].

 (2) The proceeding commences on the day the petition is delivered to the Court.

Parties and Secondary Parties to a Proceeding

§ 28

 (1) The petitioner and those specified by this Statute shall be parties to a proceeding.

 (2) Persons to whom this Statute grants the status shall be secondary parties, unless they waive this status. They shall have the same rights and duties as parties to a proceeding.

 (3) If doubt should arise as to whether a person qualifies as a secondary party, the Court shall resolve the issue by ruling.

 (4) If in connection with its decision-making, a court is a party or a secondary party to a proceeding before the Court, the term "court" shall be understood to mean the relevant panel or individual judge.

§ 29

 In proceedings before the Court, a party or a secondary party may be represented only by an attorney, or by a commercial lawyer or notary to the extent provided for in special statutes and enactments.[2] A party may have only one counsel in the same matter.

§ 30

 (1) A natural or a legal person who is a party or a secondary party to a proceeding before the Court must be represented by an attorney, or by a commercial lawyer ornotaryto the extent provided for in special statutes and enactments. [2]

 2) If the state is a party or a secondary party to a proceeding before the Court, it shall be represented by the organizational unit of the State competent pursuant to a special legal enactment, and the head of that organizational unit, or the employee thereof to whom she entrusts the task, shall act in the proceeding on thestate´sbehalf; thestate´sright to have itself represented in the manner laid down in sec. 29 shall not, however, be affected thereby. If, pursuant to a special legal enactment

2a), the State Office for Representation in Property Matters represents thestate, thatOffice´semployee so entrusted by the Director thereof shall act in the proceeding on thestate´sbehalf.

 (3) Unless this Statute provides otherwise, that person authorized, by special statutes and enactments, to act on behalf of a governmental body or office shall act for that body or office in a proceeding before the Court. Their right to be represented by an attorney, or by a commercial lawyer or notary to the extent provided for by special statutes and enactments, is not affected thereby. [2]

 (4) The chairperson of a panel shall act on behalf of a court.[2] § 2 of Czech National Council Act No. 209/1990Sb., on Commercial Lawyers and Legal Advice Provided by Them. § 3 of Czech National Council Act No. 358/1992Sb., on Notaries and their Activities (NotarialRules). [2a] Act No. 201/2002Sb., on the Office for State Representation in Property Matters.

§ 31

 (1) In a proceeding before the Court, the counsel for a party under § 29 or § 30para. 1 is not entitled to have himself represented by some other person.

 (2) It must be explicitly stated in the power of attorney authorizing a person to act as a representative under § 29 or § 30para.1 that the power of attorney is given for the purpose of representation before the Court.

§ 32

Rights and Duties of Parties

 Parties and secondary parties are entitled to give their views on the petition instituting a proceeding, make submissions to the Court, examine the file (with the exception of voting records), make excerpts from and copies of it, take part in any oral hearing in the matter, put forward evidence, and be present during the taking of evidence conducted apart from an oral hearing.

§ 33

The Language of Proceedings

 (1) The Czech language shall be used in proceedings before the Court. Individuals may use their native language during oral hearings, or other proceedings in which individuals take part.

 (2) If an individual party or a secondary party takes part in a proceeding, or if a witness or an expert witness give evidence before the Court, in a language other than Czech, the Court shall call upon the assistance of an interpreter; with the agreement of the participants, an interpreter is not necessary if the testimony is given in the Slovak language. It shall be stated in the record that an interpreter was used.

 (3) Similarly, the Court shall call upon an interpreter if a deaf, mute, or deaf-mute person is taking part, if it is not possible to communicate with him in some other reliable manner.

§ 34

Petitions Instituting a Proceeding

 (1) A petition instituting a proceeding shall be submitted to the Court in writing. The following must be evident from the petition: the person who is making it, the matter to which it relates, and that which is sought. The petition must be signed and dated. Further, the petition shall include a true description of the crucial facts and indicate the evidence which the petitioner will introduce, and it must be evident from it what the petitioner is claiming; the petition must contain other things called for by this Statute.

(2) A sufficient number of copies of the petition instituting a proceeding should be submitted so that the Court can retain one copy and one copy can be delivered to each party or secondary party who is referred to in the petition.

§ 35

(1) A petition instituting a proceeding is inadmissible if it relates to a matter upon which the Court has already passed judgment and in other instances provided for by this Statute.

(2) A petition shall also be inadmissible in instances when the Court has already taken some action in the same matter; if one is submitted by an authorized petitioner, he has the right to take part, as a secondary party, in the proceeding concerning the earlier submitted petition.

The Exclusion of a Justice

§ 36

(1) A Justice shall be excluded from the consideration of and decision-making in a matter if her impartiality may be doubted due to the fact that she has some connection to the matter, a party, a secondary party, or the counsel of any of them.

(2) A Justice shall also be excluded if she was active in the same matter while performing some other office or profession, prior to becoming a Justice of the Court.

(3) Activities related to the preparation, consideration, oradoption of a statute or some other enactment arenot considered the type of activities meant in paragraph 2.

§ 37

(1) A party to a proceeding may declare, at the beginning of the first oral hearing at thelatest, thatshe objects to any of the Justices whom she considers to be biased. The objection must include the reasonstherefor. A Justice to whom an objection is made is required to give his opinion thereon.

(2) A Justice may declare that he considers himself to be biased in a matter; he shall state his reasons in the declaration.

§ 38

(1) If the proceeding is before the Plenum, it shall decide whether to exclude the Justice; the Justice whom the decision on exclusion concerns shall not vote. If the proceeding is before a Panel, another Panel designated by the work schedule shall make the decision.

(2) With regard to the exclusion of an Assistant to a Justice, a court reporter, an expert witness, or an interpreter, the provisions of § 36 and 37 apply mutatis mutandis. If the matter is being decided by the Plenum, the Chairperson shall make the decision whether to exclude her, and if the matter is being decided by a Panel, the Chairperson of that Panel shall make the decision. 

Urgency of a Matter

§ 39

The Court need not consider petitions in the order in which they were submitted if it decides by ruling that the matter, to which a particular petition relates, is urgent.The provisions of § 71dpara.1, § 97para.3 and § 113 shall not be affected by this section.

CHAPTER TWO

Provisions Concerning Specific Proceedings before the Court

SECOND DIVISION

Proceedings on the Conformity with Constitutional Acts of International Treaties under Articles 10a and 49 of the Constitution

The Submission of Petitions

§ 71a

(1) A petition, pursuant to Article 87para. 2 of the Constitution, for adjudging the conformity of a treaty with a constitutional act may be submitted by:

a)oneof the chambers of Parliament, as of the moment when the treaty is submitted to it for its consent to ratification, until the moment when the treaty receives that consent,

b)agroup of at least 41 Deputies or a group of at least 17 Senators, from the moment when the Parliament has given its consent to the ratification of the treaty, until the moment when the President of the Republic ratifies the treaty,

c) a group of at least 41 Deputies or a group of at least 17 Senators, from the declaration of the results of a referendum in which consent to the ratification of a treaty is given, until the moment when the President of the Republic ratifies the treaty,

d)thePresident of the Republic, from the moment when the treaty was submitted to him for ratification.

(2) A petition of a group of Deputies or a group of Senators under paragraph 1, lit. b)orc) must be signed by the prescribed number of Deputies or Senators.

(3) Should the treaty not have been drawn up in an authentic Czech version, at least one of the authentic language versions of the treaty, as well as a Czech translation thereof, must be submitted as an attachment to the petition. 

Inadmissible Petitions

§ 71b

 (1) A petition shall be inadmissible if it was not submitted in accordance with § 71aparas.1 and 2.

(2) A petition shall further be inadmissible, if the constitutional act with which, according to the petition, the treaty conflicts, losses force and effect prior to the petition’s submission to theConstitutional Court. 

§ 71c

Parties to the Proceeding

In addition to the petitioner, the Parliament, the President of theRepublic,and the government shall also in all cases be parties to the proceeding. 

§ 71d

Advancement of Proceedings

(1) If a party to the proceeding so requests, theConstitutional Courtshall consider the petition in preference to other petitions received before it and without undue delay.

(2) If a petition has not been rejected on preliminary grounds or if grounds for its discontinuance have not arisen during the course of the proceeding, the Court is obliged to act upon it and to resolve the matter, even without the submission of further petitions.

(3) In its decision-making theConstitutional Courtshall assess the treaty's content from the perspective of its conformity with the constitutional order.

§ 71e

Judgments and their Legal Consequences

(1) If, after holding a proceeding, the Court comes to the conclusion that the international treaty is in conflict with the constitutional order, in its judgment it shall declare such non- conformity; in its judgment it shall state the provisions of the constitutional order with which the treaty conflicts.

(2) If, after holding a proceeding, the Court comes to the conclusion that the treaty is not in conflict with the constitutional order, in its judgment it shall declare that the treaty’s ratification would not be in conflict with the constitutional order.

(3) A judgment of theConstitutional Courtunder paragraph 1 is a hindrance to the treaty’s ratification until such time as the non-conformity shall be cured. THIRD DIVISION Proceedings on a Constitutional Complaint Constitutional Complaints

§ 80

Provisional Measures

(1) If a constitutional complaint is directed at some encroachment of a public authority other than a decision by it, then in order to avert threatened serious harm or detriment, in order to forestall a threatened intervention by force, or from some other weighty public interest, the Court may enjoin the public authority from continuing in its actions ("provisional measures").

(2) The Court may order provisional measures without oral proceedings. In especially urgent cases, the views of other parties or of secondary parties on a proposal under paragraph 1 are not required.

(3) The Court's resolution on provisional measures shall lose force and effect as a result of the announcement of the Court’s judgment in the matter, unless the Court has already previously canceled them because the reasons for which they were ordered had ceased to exist.

§ 82 

The Judgment and its Legal Consequences

(1) In its judgment, the Court shall hold either that it grants the constitutional complaint in its entirety, rejects it in its entirety, or grants it in part and rejects it in part.

(2) If the Court grants the constitutional complaint, it shall declare in its judgment:

a)forconstitutional complaints under Article 87para. 1, lit. d)ofthe Constitution, which of the constitutionally guaranteed rights or freedoms and which provision of a constitutional act was infringed, and which encroachment by a public authority resulted in the infringement;

b)forconstitutional complaints under Article 87para. 1, lit. c)ofthe Constitution, what the infringement of the legally guaranteed right to self-government consists in, which constitutional act or statute was infringed, and which encroachment by a public authority resulted in the infringement;

c)forpetitions under Article 87para. 1, lit. j)ofthe Constitution, in what way the decision dissolving a political party or some other decision affecting its activities is incompatible with a constitutional act or a statute.

(3) If it grants the constitutional complaint of a natural or legal person under Article 87para. 1, lit. d)ofthe Constitution, the Court shall:

a)annulthe contested decision of the public authority, or

b)ifa constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right or basic freedom was infringed as the result of an encroachment by a public authority other than a decision, enjoin the authority from continuing to infringe this right or freedom and order it, to the extent possible, to restore the situation that existed prior to the infringement.