Compilation of Venice Commission Opinions, Reports and Studies on Constitutional Justice
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Strasbourg, 14 April 2020 CDL-PI(2020)004 Engl. only EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW (VENICE COMMISSION) COMPILATION OF VENICE COMMISSION OPINIONS, REPORTS AND STUDIES ON CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE (UPDATED) This document will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy. www.venice.coe.int CDL-PI(2020)004 - 2 - Table of contents 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 4 2 Type of constitutional court ........................................................................................... 5 3 Sources ............................................................................................................................. 7 4 Composition of the court ................................................................................................ 8 4.1 Balanced composition ................................................................................................ 8 4.1.1 Fair representation of ethnic minorities ............................................................... 10 4.1.2 Judges’ qualifications ........................................................................................... 10 4.1.3 Age ....................................................................................................................... 13 4.2 Incompatibilities ....................................................................................................... 14 4.3 Methods of appointment / election .......................................................................... 16 4.3.1 Qualified majority for election .............................................................................. 20 4.3.2 Procedure.......................................................................................................... 23 4.4 Term of office ........................................................................................................... 24 4.4.1 The judges’ term of office .................................................................................... 24 4.4.2 Re-election of judges ........................................................................................... 24 4.4.3 Continuity of membership .................................................................................... 25 4.5 Termination / suspension of office ........................................................................... 28 4.6 Liability ..................................................................................................................... 32 4.6.1 Disciplinary liability ........................................................................................... 32 4.6.2 Immunity ........................................................................................................... 34 4.7 President of the Court .............................................................................................. 36 4.8 Independence of the judiciary .................................................................................. 38 4.9 Internal structure of the court – chambers .............................................................. 42 4.10 Secretary General / staff / experts............................................................................... 44 5 The right to appeal to the court ................................................................................... 45 5.1 Appeal by a public body ........................................................................................... 45 5.1.1 Parliamentary minority ......................................................................................... 45 5.1.2 Ombudsman......................................................................................................... 46 5.1.3 Courts (preliminary request) ................................................................................ 47 5.2 Claims brought by individuals .................................................................................. 49 5.2.1 Full constitutional complaint ............................................................................ 50 5.2.2. Normative constitutional complaint .................................................................. 52 5.2.3 Exhaustion of remedies ....................................................................................... 52 5.2.4 Free legal aid ....................................................................................................... 53 5.2.5 Determination of admissibility .............................................................................. 54 5.2.6 Relations with ordinary courts ............................................................................. 55 5.2.7 Actio popularis ..................................................................................................... 56 5.3 Effective remedy ...................................................................................................... 57 5.3.1 Procedural length ................................................................................................. 57 6 Jurisdiction ..................................................................................................................... 58 6.1 Control of sub-legislative acts .................................................................................. 62 6.2 A priori control of legislation .................................................................................... 62 6.3 A priori control for international treaties................................................................... 63 6.4 Control of sub-statutory acts .................................................................................... 64 6.5 Constitutional Amendments ..................................................................................... 64 6.6 Referendum questions ............................................................................................. 65 6.7 Exclusion of legislation from Constitutional control ................................................. 65 6.8 National implementation of decisions of international jurisdictions ......................... 66 6.9 Conflicts of competence between state organs ...................................................... 68 7 Procedure ....................................................................................................................... 68 7.1 Conflicts of interest – recusal and exclusion of a judge from a case ...................... 68 7.2 Mandatory legal representation ............................................................................... 70 - 3 - CDL-PI(2020)004 7.3 Rights of the parties ................................................................................................. 71 7.4 Case allocation ........................................................................................................ 71 7.5 Panels of judges and qualified assistants ............................................................... 72 7.6 Relationship between plenary and chambers ......................................................... 73 7.7 Oral / written procedure ........................................................................................... 74 7.8 Dissenting opinions .................................................................................................. 76 7.9 Interlocutory decisions ............................................................................................. 78 7.10 Joinder of cases ....................................................................................................... 79 7.11 Application withdrawal ............................................................................................. 79 7.12 Adversarial proceedings .......................................................................................... 80 7.13 Evaluation of evidence ............................................................................................. 81 7.14 Repetitive cases ....................................................................................................... 81 7.15 Announcement of Judgments .................................................................................. 81 7.16 Sequence of cases .................................................................................................. 82 7.17 Postponement of cases ........................................................................................... 82 7.18 Quorum and majority for adopting decisions ........................................................... 83 7.19 Signing decisions ..................................................................................................... 84 8 Effects of decisions ....................................................................................................... 85 8.1 Publication of judgments .......................................................................................... 85 8.2 Ex tunc v. ex nunc effects ........................................................................................ 87 8.3 Obligation for ordinary courts to reopen a case ...................................................... 91 8.4 Functions of the constitutional court ........................................................................ 92 8.5 Execution of the Constitutional Court’s decision ..................................................... 93 8.6 Obligation to follow constitutional interpretation provided by the constitutional