Statistical data: 1 January 1996 - 30 April 1996

• Cases concerning the conformity of laws with the Constitution:
received 32, resolved 18:
in 1 case provision of a law was repealed, in 8 cases proposals to review the constitutionality of laws were not accepted, in 5 cases the proposals were dismissed, in 2 cases the procedure was terminated because the law was no longer valid, in 2 cases the petitioners were instructed about their right to propose review of constitutionality of laws.
• Cases concerning the conformity of other regulations with the Constitution and laws:
received 21, resolved 9:
in 3 cases regulations were repealed, in 1 case the proposal to review the constitutionality and legality of regulations was not accepted, in 3 cases the proposals were dismissed, in 2 cases the procedure was terminated.
• Cases concerning the protection of constitutional rights:
received 175, resolved 182:
in 8 cases the action was accepted, the disputed acts repealed and the cases returned for reconsideration;
in 104 cases the actions were rejected; in 55 cases the actions were dismissed; in 5 cases the procedure was terminated; in 10 cases the claimants were instructed about their rights concerning the constitu-tional action.
• Cases concerning jurisdictional disputes among legislative, executive and judicial branches:
received 2, resolved 2.
• Cases concerning supervision of the constitutionality and legality of elections:
received none, resolved 1.
• Cases concerning suspension of implementation of individual acts before the case was finally decided:
received 18, resolved 15; in 6 cases the claim was accepted and in 7 cases rejected; in 2 cases the procedure was terminated.

Important decisions

Identification: CRO-96-1-001
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 17.01.1996 /e) U-lll-437/1993/f)/g) Narodne novine, 7/1996, 354 /h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Executive bodies - Territorial administrative decentralisation - Municipalities.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Right to property - Expropriation.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Expropriation by municipality.

Headnotes:
Deprivation of property by decision of a municipal assembly is unconstitutional. According to the Constitution restrictions on ownership and deprivation of property are possible only if regulated by a State law and only in the interests of the State.

Summary:
A constitutional action claiming protection of property rights was submitted against the act of a municipality assembly (and a decision of an administrative court which upheld its validity) which sought to expropriate privately owned land on the grounds of the common good, namely the general interest in "microaccumulation of water and regulation of rivulets".
The action was successful, and the disputed acts were repealed since the Constitution of 21 December 1990 states that municipal bodies may not determine which general interests can serve as a foundation for the deprivation of private property, and this question must therefore be regulated by laws under the Constitution.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-96-1-002
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 17.01.1996 / e) U-lll-846/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 7/1996, 354-355 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Equality.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Non-retrospective effect of law - Criminal law.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Motor vehicle, deprivation.

Headnotes:
Constitutional rights of equality before the courts were not violated by the application of a law (by the Administrative Court) which was valid at the time of the trial rulings on sentence and protective measures following conviction for a misdemeanour, event though the amended law, valid at the moment of the decision of the administrative court, was less severe.

Summary:
A constitutional action was submitted against protective measures accompanying a sentence for a misdemeanour - deprivation of motor vehicle - claiming that the law which prescribed obligatory deprivation of motor vehicles in all cases in which the misdemeanour was committed was no longer in force and that the valid law, which prescribed facultative deprivation of a motor vehicle, and only if the misdemeanour was repeated, should be applied. The action was unsuccessful.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-96-1-003
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 17.01.1996 / e) U-l 11-509/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 11/1996, 575-576 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - General questions – Entitlement to rights - Foreigners.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights – Equality - Scope of application.
Fundamental rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to work.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Advocate, conditions for exercise of profession / Citizenship.

Headnotes:
Constitutional rights to equality before the law and before the courts, to work and to freedom of work were not violated by the requirement, prescribed by law, of Croatian citizenship as a condition for admission to the Advocates' Chamber and consequently for practice as an advocate.

Summary:
A constitutional action was submitted against an act of the Advocates' Chamber (and of the Administrative Court which upheld its validity) which denied to the claimant admission to the Chamber and consequently to professional practice.
The action was rejected by the Court on the grounds that the claimant, a citizen of Montenegro at the time Of application, did not fulfil the conditions regulating Croatian citizenship and the conditions under which advocates may practice; the conditions as such did not violate constitutional rights.

Languages: Croatian

Identification: CRO-96-1-004
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 24.01.1996 / e) JU-11-99/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 11 /1996,576-577 / h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Executive bodies - Territorial administrative decentralisation - Municipalities.
Institutions - Public finances - Principles.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Local self-government, taxation.

Headnotes:
A unit of local self-government and administration acquires its financial means according to State law and may not introduce additional contributions chargeable against citizens which are not prescribed by law.

Summary:
A decision of a municipal council obliged all consumers of electric energy to pay an additional 3,5% of the amount owing for spent electricity in order to finance public lighting. The proposal to review the constitutionality and legality of the decision was successful, and the decision of the municipal council was repealed accordingly.

Cross-references:
In decision U-ll-506/1993 of 14 February 1996 (Narodne novine, 17/1996), which concerns such a contribution in another municipality the Court also stated that public lighting, as a matter of communal life, is to be financed from means collected as "communal contributions" according to the Law on communal activities.

Languages: Croatian

Identification: CRO-96-1-005
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 07.02.1996/ e) U-lll-1031/1994 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 13/1996, 579-580 / 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: Employees, right to appeal.

 Headnotes:
All natural and legal persons whose position is influenced by a process of transformation of ownership are entitled to legal protection of their rights. Since there is no right of natural persons, such as employees or shareholders in joint-stock companies, to appeal against consent of the privatisation fund envisaged in the law regulating privatisation, disputes before the Administrative Court constitute the only means of legal protection of employees in enterprises during transformation. Therefore, the claims of employees of a firm and of their trade union organisation should not be dismissed by the Administrative Court but should be judged on the merits.

Summary:
The privatisation fund gave its consent to the transform-ation of ownership of a publishing house. Against this consent, employees of a firm and their trade union organisation submitted an action to the Administrative Court which held that the law entitled only the enterprises, the legal entities, to apply to the Administrative Court, not persons employed in them. Their actions were therefore dismissed.
The action submitted to the Constitutional Court alleged that this ruling gave rise to a violation of the constitutional right to appeal. The action was successful.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-96-1-006
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 03.04.1996/ e) U-lll-938/1995 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 30/1996,1175-1179/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Right to private life.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Name, change.

Headnotes:
Since personal integrity is constitutionally protected as inviolable, and one's name is a characteristic of one's individuality, the legislator is authorised to impose upon citizens only such restrictions on change of name as are authorised generally for restricting rights and freedoms - such as to protect the freedoms and rights of other people, public order, morality and health.

Summary:
A constitutional action was submitted against rulings of administrative bodies and the Administrative Court by which the claimant was denied the right to change his name and surname on grounds that the proposal of a new name was uncustomary in the region in which he lived, that it was contrary to the orthography of the Croatian language, and that his reasons for the proposed name were subjective in character.
The action was successful. The majority of the Court held that the bodies which denied the right of change did not establish whether the proposed name endangered freedoms and rights of other people, the public order, morality and health; reasons why constitutional rights may be restricted. Subjective reasons of the claimant are not grounds for denying the change, because subjective reasons and motives for change of name are exactly those which justify such a change, if legal conditions are fulfilled.

Supplementary information:
There were four dissenting opinions stating that the right to personal name implies that nobody may be forced to change their name for ethnic, linguistic, political, cultural or other reasons. Subjective reasons do not justify the change of name: stability of a name has to be the rule. Given that the Constitution has dedicated several articles to the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage, which includes Croatian language, customs and traditional culture.

Languages: Croatian.

Identification: CRO-96-1-007
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 17.04.1996 / e) U-lll-132/1996 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 32/1996, 1253-1255/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - General questions – Entitlement to rights - Foreigners.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights – Equality - Scope of application.
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards - Fair trial.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Expulsion of an alien.

Headnotes:
Constitutional rights of equality of citizens and aliens before the courts are violated if provisions of law, according to which an alien is subjected to removal from Croatian territory, do not correspond with established facts. The notion of a fair trial requires that reasons for expulsion from Croatian territory be substantiated.

Summary:
The Police department declared that the status of the claimant as a legal alien was not valid since the police certificate regulating his residence had expired. The expulsion decision of the Magistrates' Court was founded on the statement that "... the competent officers established...", while a judge did not establish the facts. The High Magistrates' Court did not ex officio review this essential violation of procedure and rejected the claimant's appeal. His subsequent action before the Constitutional Court was successful.

Languages: Croatian, English

Identification: CRO-96-1-008
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / c) / d) 17.04.1996 / e) U-l-28/1993 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 32/1996,1255-1256/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Fundamental rights - Civil and political rights - Right to property.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Land register / Real estate tax.

Headnotes:
To prescribe that the transfer of ownership of real property cannot be entered in the land register without proof that a real estate tax was paid is a restriction which goes beyond the constitutionally permitted restrictions on ownership.

Summary:
In the Act regulating real estate taxes, the Court repealed the above provision which was held to be an unconstitu-tional restriction on the acquisition of property. The Court also held that the gaps between factual circumstances and the information entered in land registers weakens confidence in land registers and thus threatens entrepre-neurial and market freedoms, which are constitutionally defined as the basis of the economic system of the State.

Languages: Croatian, English.

Identification: CRO-96-1-009
a) Croatia / b) Constitutional Court / с) / d) 29.04.1996 / e) U-ll-204/1996 / f) / g) Narodne novine, 33/1996, 1275-1277/h).

Keywords of the systematic thesaurus:
Institutions - Executive bodies - Territorial administrative decentralisation - Municipalities.
Institutions - Public finances - Budget.

Keywords of the alphabetical index: Local self-government, budget.

Headnotes: A budget adopted without following a legally prescribed procedure is unconstitutional.

Summary:
The Court repealed the 1996 budget of the City of Zagreb. In the procedure for adopting the budget of a local self-government and administration unit, as prescribed by law, a draft budget is submitted to the representative body by its council. This procedure also includes the participation of an appointed representative of the unit's council in the sessions of the representative bodies and its working bodies, who presents the budget to the assembly, gives reasons for the proposals and for the positions taken by the council, and gives expert explanations and opinions about submitted amendments. Denying the right to the representative of the unit's council to such participation renders the procedure for adopting the budget illegal and unconstitutional.

Supplementary information: Dissenting opinion of one judge.

Languages: Croatian.