Reference period: 1 January 1995 - 30 April 1995

Statistical data

• Cases concerning the conformity of laws with the Constitution:
received 42, resolved 6: in 1 case the provisions of a law were repealed; in 3 cases the motions to review the constitutionality of laws were not accepted; in 1 case the motion to review was rejected and in 1 case the procedure was terminated.
In 2 cases the Court set in motion proceedings to review the constitutionality of laws.
In 86 cases the Court was asked to temporarily suspend the execution of individual acts based on a provision the constitutionality of which was under review. In 58 cases the execution was suspended.

• Cases concerning the conformity of other regulations with the Constitution and laws:
received 38, resolved 12: in 3 cases the provisions of regulations other than laws were repealed; in 1 case the motion to review the constitutionality and legality of such regulations was not accepted; in 5 cases the motion to review was rejected and in 3 cases the procedure was terminated. In 1 case the Court accepted the motion to review the constitutionality and legality of regulations.

• Cases concerning the protection of constitutional rights:
received 223, resolved 109: in 29 cases the constitutional action was accepted; in 30 cases the claim was dismissed; in 47 cases rejected; in 2 cases the action was withdrawn and in 1 case the petitioner was instructed on the right to submit a constitutional action.

• Cases concerning jurisdictional disputes among legislative, executive and judicial branches:
received 0, resolved 3.

Translations mentioned under Languages do not bind the Court.

Important decisions

Identification: CRO-95-1-001
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 11.01.1995 / e) U-l-46/1992 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 5/1995 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - General questions - Limits and restrictions.
Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Commercial and industrial freedom.
Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Scientific freedom.
Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Artistic freedom.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Media, publishing.

Headnotes:
An Act which allows private individuals to publish only their own original works, literary, scientific or other, or works whose publishing rights they acquired through inheritance, restricts unconstitutionally freedom of enterprise, market freedom and also artistic and scientific freedom.
An Act obliging the publisher to obtain before publica-tion from two or more qualified persons a review of the work to be published restricts unconstitutionally freedom of enterprise and market freedom.

Summary:
The decision of the Court repealed two provisions in the Act regulating publishing activities on the grounds that entrepreneurial and market freedom, which are the basis of the economic system of the Republic, allow private individuals to publish works written by others, and to publish them also without obtaining prior favourable reviews.
The repealed provisions were adopted in 1983, before the Constitution of 1990.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-95-1-002
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 25.01.1995 / e) U-lll-739/1994 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 9/1995 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Sources of constitutional law - Categories – Written rules - Constitution.
General principles - Separation of powers.
Institutions - Executive bodies - Relations with the courts.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Courts, competence.

Headnotes:
Administrative bodies have no authority to proceed in cases where contracts on exchange of apartments are null and void nor to extend their jurisdiction either by extensive interpretation of rules or by their analogous application.

Summary:
The decision of the Court overruled a judgment of the Administrative Court and two decisions by administra-tive bodies and returned the case for reconsideration, having held that these decisions violated the constitu-tional principle according to which individual acts of state administration and bodies vested with public powers shall be based on law.
One dissenting opinion held that only the decision of the Administrative Court should be overruled, and that the other administrative decisions should be declared void.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-95-1-003
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 02.02.1995 / e) U-ll-433/1994 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 9/1995 / h).

Keywords the systematic thesaurus:
Sources of constitutional law - Categories - Written rules - Constitution.
Sources of constitutional law - Categories - Written rules - Quasi-constitutional enactments.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Linguistic freedom.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Protection of minorities and persons belonging to minorities.

Keywords of the alphabetical index:
Language rights / Local self-government / Local self-government, international relations / Minorities.

Headnotes:
The Republic of Croatia, as a State, is the sole and exclusive subject of international law. The State recognises and executes international agreements.
A county (zupanija, a unit of local administration and self-government) cannot establish its statute directly on the basis of international documents.
The territory of a county is defined by the Republic and its laws, not by a county and its statute.
The exercise and protection of national rights of minorities lies within the jurisdiction of the Republic, which regulates them by laws, it is not a subject-matter to be regulated by a county statute.
Only the units of local self-government (a municipality, a district and a township), and not a county, may introduce into official use two or more languages and scripts. Only under the conditions specified by law can official use of a language of the members of ethnic and national communities or minorities, along with the Croatian language, be specified.
The county does not have the authority to regulate the use of a minority language, to determine the kinds of county taxes, to designate the administrative procedure before its bodies, to prescribe the protection of "Istrianity" (as an expression of the Istrian pluriethnos), to stipulate that the right of consensus is guaranteed by the Commission for Issues and Protec-tion of the Indigenous Italian National Community on matters within its self-governing competence which are of special interest to members of the Italian national community, to give to the representative body of the county a name differing from its legal definition, to determine a specific immunity for the members of the County Assembly, or to regulate the procedure for relieving the county prefect of his duty otherwise than regulated by law.
Symbols of a county, such as the anthem and the county day, lie within the self-governing competence of the county and can be regulated by the county statute.
The bodies of a local self-government and administra-tion unit can, in accordance with its statute, have their seats outside the seat of the unit. It is in conformity with the Constitution that a county, within its self-governing competence, cooperates with other local units and associations, or cooperates with and joins international organisations of regional and local units and associations of the same kind.
The right to initiate the procedure for changing the territorial boundaries belongs to the county assembly, after consultation with the representative bodies of municipalities and townships or citizens.
It is not in discordance with the Constitution and the laws to guarantee to members of the Italian national community the right to university education in their own language according to special curricula.
A county may, within its self-governing competence, decide to hold a referendum.
A county may by its statute determine the cases in which the duty of members of the representative body of a local self-government unit is incompatible with another duty.
A county is allowed to provide in its statute for other sources of funds, apart from those specified by law; it is not in discordance with the law if a county prescribes that fines and property seized because of administrative offences, prescribed by the county itself, are the county's own revenue source.

Summary:
The government of the Republic of Croatia disputed the constitutionality and legality of the Statute of the County of Istria seeking a suspension, at the same time, of the execution of the Statute.
Eighteen provisions, and parts of the preamble, were repealed by the Constitutional Court's decision.

Languages: Croatian, English and Italian (translations by the Court).

Identification: CRO-95-1-004 Identification: CRO-95-1-005
a) Croatia/b) Constitutional Court/c)/d) 15.02.1995 / e) U-l-143/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 11/1995 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
General principles - Separation of powers.
Institutions - Executive bodies - Relations with the courts.
Institutions - Courts - Supreme Court.
Institutions - Courts - Organisation - Members.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Judges, appointment.

Headnotes:
The provision which stipulates that the President of the Supreme Court of the Republic shall be appointed at the proposal of the Government of the Republic is not unconstitutional.

Summary:
The provision was disputed from the standpoint of the constitutional principle of the separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial branches, and also by reference to the principle according to which judicial power shall be autonomous and independent.
The Court held that the purpose of the constitutional provision of the separation of powers is to prevent the concentration of authority and political power solely within one government body. The realisation of this purpose in contemporary constitutional systems is dealt with in different ways, which results in entrusting the basic governing functions to different government bodies. In the Croatian system of a tripartite separation of powers, these powers control and limit each other, but they also permeate each other.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-95-1-005
a) Croatia/b) Constitutional Court / c) /d) 15.02.1995 / e) U-ll-30/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 11 /1995 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
General principles - Democracy.
Institutions - Courts - Jurisdiction. Institutions - Courts - Procedure.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Rules of procedure / State Judiciary Council.

Headnotes:
The Constitution and the Act on the State Judiciary Council do not give authority to the State Judiciary Council to prescribe in its Rules of Procedure the possibility of holding sessions which are not public and to give prevalence to the president's vote in case of a tie.

Summary:
The Court repealed 3 provisions in the Rules of Procedure of the State Judiciary Council.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-95-1-006
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 22.03.1995 / e) U-l 11-180/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 21/1995 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights -Freedom of expression.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights -Freedom of the written press.
Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Commercial and industrial freedom.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Market equality / Media, written press / Taxes.

Headnotes:
An administrative act which, without legal grounds, fails to classify printed matter in the category of daily newspapers or periodicals - which are exempted from paying turnover tax - violates the constitutional fun-damental rights of free enterprise, freedom of the written press and freedom of expression of thought.

Summary:
The Court accepted a constitutional action by the publisher of Feral Tribune. The principles of equality and equity on which, according to the Constitution, the tax system is to be based, demand that the obligation to pay a tax is equally and equitably determined for all taxpayers.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-95-1-007
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 22.03.1995 / e) U-lll-1056/1994 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 23/1995 /h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights -Procedural safeguards - Access to courts.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Right to property - Privatisation.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Property, ownership transformation.

Headnotes:
All persons concerned by a process of transformation of ownership rights have the right to take part in an administrative dispute arising in the course of the transformation procedure. This includes previous owners and their heirs.
The constitutional provision which guarantees the right of ownership extends also to ownership in the nascent stage, to restitution, and to future ownership.

Summary:
The Court overruled a decision of the Administrative Court by which a claim of the daughter of previous owners of a hotel was rejected on the grounds that law on transformations did not extend to her rights or to her direct legal interests, as established by law.

Languages: Croatian, German (translation by the Court).

Identification: CRO-95-1-008
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 29.03.1995 / e) U-lll-188/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 22/1995 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Courts - Jurisdiction.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights -Equality - Scope of application - Employment -Public.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Judges, appointment. Heac/notes;
A decision on the appointment of judges which was not adopted according to the procedure determined by law, was found to violate the constitutional rights of candidates.

Summary:
The Court accepted constitutional actions submitted by candidates not appointed as judges, repealed the decision of the State Council of Judiciary of 16 February 1995, on the appointment of all judges,  and returned the case to the State Council of Judiciary for reconsideration.
The legal effects of the decision were postponed until the adoption of a new decision of the State Council of Judiciary, such postponement being in no case longer than three months from the day of the publication of the decision in Narodne novine.
In a partly concurring opinion, one justice held that the Court had no grounds to repeal the entire decision concerning appointment of all judges, but only the part concerning candidates who were not appointed; that it had no grounds for postponement of the legal effects of its decision in constitutional action proceedings; and that there were no grounds to extend the protection of constitutional rights to persons who did not submit constitutional actions.

Languages: Croatian, English (translation by the Court).