Küsimustik

XVllle CongrÖs de la ConfÖrence des coUrs constitutionnelles europdennes ( E XVlllth Congress ofthe Conference of European Constitutional Courts XVl l |. Kong ress der Konferenz der Eu ropä ischen Verfassu ng sgerichte C c XVll|. Kolrpecc KoxQepeHqrara eeponeücrrx KoHcT14lyt-l!4oHHblx cyAoB :( ",,'r ( The Honorable Villu rÖvr The Chief Justice Riigikohus The Supreme Court 2 5 -03- 20t9 1-7 Lossi St 50093 Tartu saadud 1..:L.1..!.!.: fto ", ESTONIA Brno, February 28,20L9 Dear Mr Chief Justice, t would like to follow up on our correspondence late last year when we distributed a draft Questionnaire for the XVtllth Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts ("CECC") to att CECC member courts ond requested comments on its content ond structure. We would hereby like to thank everyone for their proposals and suggestions. An expert team headed by the General Rapporteur of the Xvtlfh Congress - Vice President of the Constitutionol Court, Mr. Jaroslov Fenyk - carefully considered all the comments and remarks and longuage modifications and refinements in porticular were reflected gratefully. Unfortunately, it was not possible to accept additional proposals supplementing or exponding the Questionnoire. Such proposed expansions very often concerned the specific mechanisms, procedures and features of individuol national constitutional provisions of law, current interests of individual courts, and some were even mutually contradictory. After contemplating whether to reflect all comments, whereby the Questionnoire would become much more extensive and complex, or whether to opt for its minimalist versions, we eventually decided to give preference to o briefer and shorter version of the Questionnaire. However, that does not change the foct thot we greatly appreciate all the suggestions received. t would therefore like to osk all CECC member courts, whose constitutionol powers or cose law in some way exceed the framework defined by the Questionnaire, not to hesitote to outline such specific features (differences, overlaps) in the Questionnaire in their comments on individuol points. this will be interesting for everyone who will subsequently read the nationol reports and the I believe resumes therefrom (the General Report). ln occordance with the provision of Article 9 (2) of CECC Statute and Resolution ll odopted by the Circle of Presidenfs ot its meeting on June 73, 20L8 in Prague, we hereby attoch the finol version of the Questionnoire ond kindly request you to complete it. Pleose return the completed Questionnoire by electronic mail to CECC secretariat of [email protected] bv October 37. 2079 at the lglgtl in your national language and in English or French (Article 3 of the Conference regulotions). Consütutional court of the Czech Republic, Joštova 8, 660 83 Brno, web: www.cecc2017-2020'org; email: [email protected] Dear Mr Chief Justice, the Conference of European Constitutional Courts represents a unique plotform for the cooperation of constitutionol courts and their equivalents on our continent. The previous CECC Congresses were dedicated to the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. However, now we con ossess, in real depth ond on o comparative basis, how CECC members approach the applicotion of human rights catalogues. I believe that experience gained in this way will be helpful for both the constitutional courts themselves and for those seeking protection before them. Should you require further information or assistance in completing the Questionnaire, please contoct the CEEC organizationol teom at [email protected]. All language versions of the Questionnaire and further information on the preparation of the XVlllth CEEC Congress in Prague will olso be published at www.cecc2017-2020.ora. Thank you for your cooperotion Yours faithfully, C*^r-1, q Pavel Rychetsk'i President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic Enclosure: Questionnaire for the XVIllth Congress of the Conference of Europeon Constitutional Courts Riigikohus 2 5 -03- 20r9 I '""t""""'llo I -3 I ts' Saadud nr l ln line with Resolution lladopted by the Circle of the Presidents at its meeting held on 13 June 2018 in Prague, the theme of the XVlllth Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts to be held in Prague frorn 26 to 29 May 2020 will be: HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS: THE RELATIONSHIP OF INTERNATIONAL, SUPRANATIONAL AND NATIONAL CATATOGUES IN THE 21ST CENTURY QUESTIONNATRE FOR THE XVIIIth CONGRESS OF THE CONFERENCE OF EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS GENERAL PART: CATALOGUES OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS l.l lnternational catalogues of human rights (ECHR, UDHR and ICCPR) a ln your country, what is the constitutional position/characteristic/legal force of international treaties protecting human rights? What mechanism is used to invoke the international treaties in national court decision-making? a ls it possible to invoke the direct effect of the international catalogues of human rights? lf so, please describe the mechanism. l.ll Supranational catalogues of human rights (the Charter) o ls the Charter a point of reference to review the constitutionality of legal rules and/or decisions of public authorities, be it directly (a formal point of reference in some EU member states) or indirectly by "radiating" through the national catalogues (a substantive point of reference in other states)? o Does the human rights case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union serve asguidanceforthe interpretation and application of the nationalcatalogue in your country by general courts, or a as source for judicial law-making? a ls the national impact of the Charter conditioned, in constitutional terms, by its essentially equivalent degree of protection afforded, or as the case may be in the EU member states, is it conditioned by making a request for preliminary ruling with the Court of lustice of the EU? l.lll National human rights catalogues a ls the catalogue of human rights part of the constitution of your country? lf so, how is it incorporated (a separate constitutional charter, a part of the Constitution, a part of the constitutional order)? What is its structure? a What is the historical background of the creation of the national catalogue of human rights in your country? ls the respective legislation in your country based on other legislation (previous or foreign), or is it original? a What has been the development of your national catalogue of human rights over time? ls it undergoing a change? Are new rights included? ls there a constitutional procedure for its modification or amendment? l.lV The mutual relationship between different catalogues of human rights o Can you give examples from the case law of your court related to the use of any of the international catalogues? a Has your court considered the relationship/hierarchy/competition of the catalogues of human rights in light of the protection afforded? a ls there an established procedure for choosing a specific catalogue of human rights in cases where the right is protected under more catalogues (NB: The application of the Charter is binding in EU member states subject to compliance with Article 51(1), i.e. its application is not discretionary.) SPECIAL PART. SPECIFIC ISSUES RELATED TO SELECTED FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS ll.l Right to life o What is the original wording of the provision protecting this right in your national catalogue? o ls it possible to restrict the right? lf so, how and under what conditions? o Has your court considered this right/its interpretation or enshrinement in more detail? lf so, please provide practical details and list the catalogues of human rights applied. o ls there a difference between the case law of your court and the case law of international courts with respect to the protection of this right? ll.ll Freedom of expression o What is the original wording of the provision protecting this right in your national catalogue? o ls it possible to restrict the right? lf so, how and under what conditions? o Has your court considered this right/its interpretation or enshrinement in more detail? lf so, please provide practical details and list the catalogues of human rights applied. o ls there a difference between the case law of your court and the case law of international courts with respect to the protection of this right? 2  ll.lll Right to privacy/right to respect for private life/right to private life o What is the original wording of the provision protecting this right in your national catalogue? o ls it possible to restrict the right? lf so, how and under what conditions? o Has your court considered this right/its interpretation or enshrinement in more detail? lf so, please provide practical details and list the catalogues of human rights applied. o ls there a difference between the case law of your court and the case law of international courts with respect to the protection of this right? ll.lV Freedom of religion o What is the original wording of the provision protecting this right in your national catalogue? o ls it possible to restrict the right? lf so, how and under what conditions? o Has your court considered this right/its interpretation or enshrinement in more detail? lf so, please provide practical details and list the catalogues of human rights applied. o ls there a difference between the case law of your court and the case law of international courts with respect to the protection of this right? ll.V Prohibitionofdiscrimination o What is the original wording of the provision protecting this right in your national catalogue? o ls it possible to restrict the right? lf so, how and under what conditions? o Has your court considered this right/its interpretation or enshrinement in more detail? lf so, please provide practical details and list the catalogues of human rights applied. o ls there a difference between the case law of your court and the case law of international courts with respect to the protection of this right? ll.Vl Right to liberty o What is the original wording of the provision protecting this right in your national catalogue? o ls it possible to restrict the right? lf so, how and under what conditions? o Has your court considered this right/its interpretation or enshrinement in more detail? lf so, please provide practical details and list the catalogues of human rights applied. o ls there a difference between the case law of your court and the case law of international courts with respect to the protection of this right? Explanatory notes: ECHR - European Convention on Human Rights Charter - Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU UDHR - Universal Declaration of Human Rights ICCPR - lnternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 3 Notes on the design of the questionnaire: Most European countries have laid down a number of rights and freedoms in their various stages of development, which they consider to be of such importance that they put them above other rights, duties and values. The primacy of these rights over other values and interests of the state has also been reflected in their formal expression, that is, in a summary list of such rights and freedoms in a document with the highest legal power. Such a document is most commonly the constitution of the state; for countries with a poly-legal constitution - such as the Czech Republic - it is a special catalogue with an autonomous normative character, but it is comparable with the Constitution in terms of its legal force and system hierarchy. Similarly to how the positions of fundamental rights and freedoms have been highlighted in national constitutional documents, international human rights documents contain provisions on human rights, their protection, application and application primacy. Therefore, national catalogues of human rights are similar to international ones in that they contain a similar list of rights, at least a similar scope of basic rights and also the fact that higher emphasis is placed on the rights and freedoms protected by the national catalogues. lnternational human rights documents, mostly having the form of treaties, have been influencing, conditioning and determining the decision-making process of constitutional courts in the area of human rights for decades. However, their approach to the use of international human rights documents is not uniform as it is subject to the national setting of the reception of international law sources. The questionnaire aims to inquire what steps are taken by the constitutional, or equivalent courts, when a value (a right or a freedom) is protected by more sources of law (which usually include a national constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights adopted within the Council of Europe, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU or another international multilateral treaty protecting human rights). Therefore, the use of various catalogues of human rights by constitutional courts should be analysed further by the XVlllth Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts. Notes on the structure of the questionnaire: The questionnaire has two parts: a general and a special part. The first part focuses on general aspects of reasoning regarding the application of individual catalogues of human rights. lt will examine, in particular, the essence of their normative enshrining in the national legal order, their plurality, their possible hierarchical position, their mutual relationships, their application in the case law, and the importance attached to the particular catalogue of human rights by a particular constitutional court. The structure of the questionnaire distinguishes national, transnational and international catalogues of human rights; the last area deals with the mutual relationship between such catalogues. (Note on Port Lll of the questionnaire: if your country is not o member of the EU and your court does not apply the Charter or the case low of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is not necessary to fill in this part). The second part examines human rights common to most human rights catalogues. An example of six human rights makes it possible to make an in-depth comparative analysis of the approach taken by the European constitutional courts and the degree of use of the individual catalogues when protecting specific rights. 4 Practical issues for submittlng the questionnaire: Many of the CECC Congresses in the past have focused extensively on the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and EU law, even in relation to the case law of the European Court for Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Despite the fundamental importance of both of these courts and the role of the Charter for the decision-making of the European constitutional courts, we believe that it is not necessary to repeat the conclusions from the questionnaires for previous Congresses. We would be happy if the focus is placed on nationalconstitutionalcourts and how they use the human rights catalogues, rather than on the hierarchy of the courts or application priority issues in the individual jurisdictions. ln accordance with the provision of Article 9 (2) of CECC Statute and Resolution ll adopted by the Circle of Presidents at its meeting on June t3, 2Ot8 in Prague, we hereby attach the final version of the Questionnaire and kindly request you to complete it electronicallv, in vour national language and in Enslish or French (Article 3 of the Conference regulations) and it would be appreciated, if your answers to the Questionnaire did not exceed 25 standard pages. Please return the completed Questionnaire by electronic mail to CECC secretariat at [email protected] bv October 31. 2019 at the latest. Thank you ! Your CECC-team ,3' ..t B a 't9 tr, :2t .dL 5 Saatja: CECC 2017-2020 <[email protected]> Saaja: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], ÚS Itálie ([email protected]), Info, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], ÚS Srbsko2 ([email protected]), [email protected], Ivan Biščak ([email protected]), [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], ÚS Srbsko ([email protected]), Kadri Nõmm, Kerdi Raud, '[email protected]', [email protected], Olga Kravchenko ([email protected]), [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], Lidija Novak ([email protected]), [email protected], [email protected], ÚS Makedonie ([email protected]), Dvořák Pavel Teema: Questionnaire for the XVIIIth Congress of CECC Dear colleagues, in accordance with the provision of Article 9 (2) of CECC Statute and Resolution II adopted by the Circle of Presidents at its meeting on June 13, 2018 in Prague, we hereby attach the final version of the Questionnaire and kindly request you to complete it electronically, in your national language and in English or French (Article 3 of the Conference regulations) and it would be appreciated, if your answer did not exceed 25 standard pages. Please return the completed Questionnaire by electronic mail to CECC secretariat at [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> by October 31, 2019 at the latest. Please, do confirm receipt of this e-mail. Thank you for your cooperation and with best regards, Your CECC-team Constitutional Court Joštova 8 660 83 Brno, Czech Republic www.cecc2017-2020.org <http://www.cecc2017-2020.org/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Chers collègues, Conformément aux dispositions de l´article 9 alinéa 2 du Statut de CECC et en relation avec la Résolution No. II. adoptée par le Cercle des Présidents à la réunion tenue le 13 juin 2018 à Prague, nous vous prions de bien vouloir remplir le Questionnaire en version électronique, en langue nationale et en anglais ou en français (art. 3 du Règlement intérieur) et il conviendrait que le nombre de pages de la réponse au questionnaire ne dépasse 25 pages normées. Une fois rempli veuillez renvoyer, s´il vous plaît, le Questionnaire au secrétariat de CECC à l´adresse email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> au plus tard avant le 31 octobre 2019. S'il vous plaît, veuillez confirmer la réception de cet e-mail. Merci pour votre coopération et bien cordialement, Your CECC-team Constitutional Court Joštova 8 660 83 Brno, Czech Republic www.cecc2017-2020.org <http://www.cecc2017-2020.org/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- Sehr geehrte Kollegen, Gemäß Bestimmungen von Art. 9 Abs. 2 der Statuten des CECC und anknüpfend an den Beschluss Nr. II. der Präsidentenrunde bei der Sitzung vom 13. Juni 2018 in Prag senden wir Ihnen hiermit die Finalversion des Fragebogens und bitten Sie, ihn in elektronischer Form und in Ihrer Nationalsprache und in Englisch oder Französisch (Art. 3 der Verhandlungsordnung) auszufüllen. Es wäre gut, wenn der Gesamtumfang der Antworten eines Gerichts nicht 25 Normseiten übersteigen würde. Den ausgefüllten Fragebogen senden Sie bitte spätestens bis zum 31. Oktober 2019 an das Sekretariat des CECC unter [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . Bitte bestätigen Sie den Erhalt dieser E-Mail. Vielen Dank für Ihre Kooperation und mit freundlichen Grüßen, Your CECC-team Constitutional Court Joštova 8 660 83 Brno, Czech Republic www.cecc2017-2020.org <http://www.cecc2017-2020.org/> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Уважаемые коллеги! В соответствии с положениями статьи 9, п. 2 Устава CECC и в связи с Резолюцией № II, принятой «Кругом председателей» на заседании 13 июня 2018 года в Праге, мы высылаем Вам окончательный вариант Вопросника во вложении и просим Вас заполнить его в электронной форме, на национальном языке и на английском или французском языках (статья 3 Правил Конференции/Conference regulations) и чтобы общий объем ответов на вопросник не превысил 25 условно-стандартных страниц текста. Заполненный Вопросник просим отправить в секретариат CECC, на адрес электронной почты: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> , не позднее 31 октября 2019 года. Пожалуйста, подтвердите получение этого письма. Cпасибо за ваше содействие и c уважением, Your CECC-team Constitutional Court Joštova 8 660 83 Brno, Czech Republic www.cecc2017-2020.org <http://www.cecc2017-2020.org/>