The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina held today its regular 115th plenary session of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina at which it examined requests for review of constitutionality and several appeals.
The Constitutional Court singles out the following decisions:
In case U-4/18, the Constitutional Court terminated the proceedings initiated upon the request of Ms. Borjana Krišto, the Chair of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for review of the constitutionality of the provision of Article IV.A.2.8., paragraph 3, of the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as amended by Amendment XXXIV (Official Gazette of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1/94, 13/97, 16/02, 22/02, 52/02, 18/03, 63/03, 9/04, 20/04, 33/04, 71/05, 72/05, 32/07 and 88/08) as the applicant has withdrawn the request.
In case U-22/18, the Constitutional Court decided on the request lodged by the Municipal Court in Tuzla (Judge Fahira Alić) for review of the compatibility of Article 52 of the Law on Higher Education of the Tuzla Canton (the Official Gazette of the Tuzla Canton, 7/16) and Article 6 of the Law Amending the Law on Higher Education of the Tuzla Canton (the Official Gazette of the Tuzla Canton, 10/16) and hereby established that challenged provisions are not consistent with Article 1, 2 and 18 of the Framework Law on Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Official Gazette of BiH, 59/07 and 59/09). The Constitutional Court concluded that the contested Article 52 of the Law on Higher Education of the Tuzla Canton, which prescribes that the appointment of the rector of the university by the senate depends on the prior consent to be given to the senate by the governing board and possibility for the governing board to appoint rector in some cases, is not compatible with Article 18 of the Framework Law, which stipulates that the university rector shall be appointed by the senate as the highest academic body. Also, Article 6 of the Law Amending the Law on Higher Education of the Tuzla Canton, which prescribes the mandate of provisional bodies of all governing and managing bodies, is not compatible with Articles 1 and 2 of the Framework Law, which does not provide for such a possibility.
In case U-23/18, the Constitutional Court decided on the request filed by County Court in Banja Luka (Judge Milan Blagojević) for review of the compatibility of Article 433 (1) of the Civil Procedure Code (Official Gazette of the Republika Srpska, 58/03, 85/03, 74/05, 63/07, 105/08, 45/09, 49/09 and 61/13) and hereby established that the challenged provision is compatible with Article II(2) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in conjunction with the right to property under Article II(3)(k) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The Constitutional Court established that the impugned provision clearly regulates civil proceedings upon an appeal in small claims disputes and falls within the scope of discretionary right of a state to regulate its legal system and to impose limitations on the right to file an appeal, while the fact that the party who is dissatisfied with the decision of the first instance court can no longer challenge that decision on the ground of erroneously or incompletely established state of facts does in no way call into question the guarantees provided for by Article 13 of the European Convention in connection with the right to property.
In case U-4/19 the Constitutional Court decided on the request of filed by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Judge Jadranka Brenjo) for review of compatibility of Article 17(22), in conjunction of Article 18(a), of the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25/04, 93/05, 48/07 and 15/08) and hereby established that the challenged provisions are compatible with Article I(2) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the mentioned provisions the Constitutional Court does not see anything which could bring into question the compatibility between the mentioned provisions of the HJPC Law and provisions of Article I(2) of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All decisions taken at the session today will be delivered to the appellants within one month time limit and will be published as soon as possible on the official website of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
