The delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took part in the events on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia

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The delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took part in the events on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia

 

On December 9-12, 2015 Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin and judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Vdovichenko participated in the tripartite seminar and the annual conference of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia "Admissibility of restrictions of fundamental rights in democratic state", held in Riga (Republic of Latvia).

At the seminar of the Constitutional Courts of Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine on the topical issues of constitutional law Presidents of the Constitutional Courts of these countries – Aldis Laviņš, Dainius Žalimas and Yurii Baulin addressed the participants with the greeting speech.

Welcoming the participants, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic ofLatvia Aldis Laviņš noted that the constitutional issues know no borders, they need to be addressed from a broad perspective, with a proper view given to the positions of the Council of Europe and the European Union. "In this regard, the role of information exchange increases and conferences with the participation of the representatives of constitutional courts are a good opportunity for this exchange, especially in the bilateral and trilateral format", stressed the speaker. He also noted that the participating courts are united by the European constitutional identity.

The seminar consisted of the two sessions, the first being devoted to "The role of the preamble in the interpretation of the constitution" and was chaired by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Dainius Žalimas.

In the framework of this session judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic ofLatvia Sanita Osipova, judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Pranas Kuconis and Chairman of the Constitutional Court Yurii Baulin presented their reports.

Chairman Baulin’s presentation was on "The value of the preamble in the interpretation of the Constitution of Ukraine", in which he drew particular attention to the fact that the interpretation of the constitution is a mandatory part of the constitutional proceedings on all issues related to the powers of constitutional jurisdiction. "In the course of administering constitutional justice the importance of the constitutional preamble, in which the main goals, objectives and principles of the construction of constitutional state are rooted in the concentrated form is growing", noted the speaker.

In his speech, Yurii Baulin emphasised the constitutional and legal nature of the preamble of the Constitution of Ukraine, which in his opinion, is that its provisions are an integral organic part of the Constitution of Ukraine and have the same (or more) legal effect as the provisions of its main text.

The constitution can not be perceived literally, since it stipulates the principles and values, and the potential of the preamble of the Basic Law gives the opportunity for the interpretation of the constitution, noted the participants.

If the constitution has no preamble, the role of the Constitutional Court is increasing, since it determines how the text of the Constitution should be read, and judges have to look for values ​​and principles in other articles of the constitution, as it used to be, for example, in Latvia until 2014, when the Latvian Constitution did not contain the preamble. Instead, the presence of the preamble to some extent facilitates the work of constitutional courts in terms of interpretation of the constitutional norms.

The second session was held under the chairmanship of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Vdovichenko and was dedicated to "Methodology of the formulation of the operative part of decision".

During this session, judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Uldis Ķinis, judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Vytas Milius and Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin presented their reports.

The participants of this session agreed that the operative part of the decision requires the most precise wording. The interlocutors discussed cases of delaying effect of constitutional courts decisions and methods of its consolidation in the operative part of the decision. They noted that the methodology of formulating the operative part is being constantly improved, and the main task is to ensure stability of implementation of decisions and the principle of justice.

Participants also discussed the current issues of constitutional justice of common interest.

On December 11 the conference on "Restricting the fundamental rights in a democratic state" was held. It was attended by the delegations of the Constitutional Courts of Ukraine andLithuania, judges and former of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia, state officials of the Republic of Latvia and representatives scientific institutions.

President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Aldis Laviņš, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Latvia Dzintars Rasnačs and Chairman of the Council of Justice Ivars Bičkovičs addressed the participants with introductory remarks.

During the conference three sessions were held. The first session on "The need of restriction of fundamental rights" was chaired by the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Aldis Laviņš. The moderator of the second session on "Introduction of the restrictions of fundamental rights" was the judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Sanita Osipova. The third session was chaired by the judge of the Constitutional Court of theRepublic of Latvia Gunārs Kusiņš and was devoted to "Review of the constitutionality of restricting the fundamental rights".

At this session judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Vdovichenko delivered a presentation on "Monitoring the constitutionality of restrictions of fundamental rights".

In his speech, the judge spoke on the practice of protecting of human and citizen’s rights and freedoms, the peculiarities of the consideration of the cases by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, application of the principles of the rule of law by the sole body of the constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine, including its elements such as justice, proportionality, legal certainty and other.

Furthermore, the judge spoke about some aspects of the improvement of the access of citizens to justice and the constitutional mechanisms for enforcement of the decisions of Constitutional Court of Ukraine. The speaker stressed that in its judicial practice the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is developing application of certain mechanisms of implementation of its decisions, guided by the experience of other European constitutional courts. In particular, he noted that the introduction of the individual constitutional complaint for individual and legal entities on the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms requires elaboration of clear admissibility criteria.

Issues discussed at the tripartite seminar and the conference gave rise to constructive discussions among the participants.

While in Riga, the delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Latvia Yevhen Perebyinis and discussed bilateral Ukrainian-Latvian relations.