Lietuviškai
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF
THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
D E C I S I O N
On the petition of the Kaunas Regional Court
requesting investigation into the compliance of
the provision of Seimas of the Republic of
Lithuania Resolution No. VIII-206 "On Amending the
Resolution of the Supreme Council 'On the Entry
into Force of the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments'" of 29 April 1997
whereby the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments shall be valid until 1
July 1998 and the provision of the second chapter
of the 12 October 2000 Republic of Lithuania Law
"On Supplementing the Law on Enabling the
Population of the Republic of Lithuania in
Providing Themselves with Dwelling Places with
Article 13 and Amending Articles 14 and 18
thereof, as well as on the Recognition of the Law
on Privatisation of Apartments and the Resolution
of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas of the
Republic of Lithuania 'On the Entry into Force of
the Republic of Lithuania Law on Privatisation of
Apartments' as Null and Void" whereby the Law on
Privatisation of Apartments is recognised as null
and void with the Constitution of the Republic of
Lithuania
Vilnius, 3 April 2001
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed of the Judges of the Constitutional Court Egidijus
Jarašiūnas, Egidijus Kūris, Zigmas Levickis, Augustinas
Normantas, Vladas Pavilonis, Jonas Prapiestis, Vytautas
Sinkevičius, Stasys Stačiokas, and Teodora Staugaitienė,
with the secretary of the hearing-Daiva Pitrėnaitė,
in the procedural sitting of the Constitutional Court
considered a report of Egidijus Kūris, Judge of the
Constitutional Court, concerning a petition of the
petitioner-the Kaunas Regional Court-requesting the
Constitutional Court to investigate if the provision of Seimas
of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No. VIII-206 "On
Amending the Resolution of the Supreme Council 'On the Entry
into Force of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Privatisation of
Apartments'" of 29 April 1997 whereby the Republic of Lithuania
Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall be valid until 1 July
1998 and the provision of the second chapter of the 12 October
2000 Republic of Lithuania Law "On Supplementing the Law on
Enabling the Population of the Republic of Lithuania in
Providing Themselves with Dwelling Places with Article 13 and
Amending Articles 14 and 18 thereof, as well as on the
Recognition of the Law on Privatisation of Apartments and the
Resolution of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas of the
Republic of Lithuania 'On the Entry into Force of the Republic
of Lithuania Law on Privatisation of Apartments' as Null and
Void" whereby the Law on Privatisation of Apartments is
recognised as null and void are in compliance with Paragraph 1
of Article 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
1. The petitioner-the Kaunas Regional Court-was
investigating a civil case. By its ruling of 26 January 2001,
it suspended the investigation of the case and appealed to the
Constitutional Court with the petition requesting investigation
into the compliance of the provision of Seimas of the Republic
of Lithuania Resolution No. VIII-206 "On Amending the
Resolution of the Supreme Council 'On the Entry into Force of
the Republic of Lithuania Law on Privatisation of Apartments'"
of 29 April 1997 (Official Gazette Valstybės žinios, 1997, No.
39-955; hereinafter also referred to as the Seimas resolution
of 29 April 1997) whereby the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments shall be valid until 1 July 1998
and the provision of the second chapter of the 12 October 2000
Republic of Lithuania Law "On Supplementing the Law on Enabling
the Population of the Republic of Lithuania in Providing
Themselves with Dwelling Places with Article 13 and Amending
Articles 14 and 18 thereof, as well as on the Recognition of
the Law on Privatisation of Apartments and the Resolution of
the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas of the Republic of
Lithuania 'On the Entry into Force of the Republic of Lithuania
Law on Privatisation of Apartments' as Null and Void" (Official
Gazette Valstybės žinios, No. 92-2874; hereinafter also
referred to as the law of 12 October 2000) whereby the Law on
Privatisation of Apartments is recognised as null and void with
the provisions of equality of citizens entrenched in Paragraph
1 of Article 29 of the Constitution.
2. The request is based on the following arguments.
In the aforementioned case investigated by the petitioner,
the plaintiffs requested to satisfy their claim to obligate the
respondent to permit them to privatise their rooms in the
hostels in pursuance with the Law on Privatisation of
Apartments which was then in force. The claim was complied with
by the Kaunas local court decision of 28 September 2000. Until
the termination of the judicial procedure, the plaintiffs could
not make use of the right established in Paragraph 1 of Article
2 and Paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the Law on Privatisation of
Apartments. The petitioner points out that other persons have
made use of this right by acquiring on favourable terms the
rented residential premises.
Before the decision was adopted in the said case, it had
been established by the Seimas resolution of 29 April 1997 that
the Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall be valid until 1
July 1998. The said Seimas resolution had abolished the right
established in Paragraph 1 of Article 2 and Paragraph 2 of
Article 5 of the Law on Privatisation of Apartments. Besides,
it was established in the second chapter of the law of 12
October 2000 that the Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall
be recognised as null and void.
Paragraph 1 of Article 29 of the Constitution provides
that all persons shall be equal before the law, the court, and
other state institutions and officers. The petitioner doubts
whether the provision of the Seimas resolution of 29 April 1997
that the Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall be valid
until 1 July 1998 and the provision of the second chapter of
the law of 12 October 2000 whereby the Law on Privatisation of
Apartments is recognised as null and void are in compliance
with Paragraph 1 of Article 29 of the Constitution.
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
1. Article 1 of the Seimas resolution of 29 April 1997
provides:
"To amend Item 1 of the Resolution of the Supreme Council
'On the Entry into Force of the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments' and, instead of the date '1 July
1997', to enter the date '1 July 1998' and to set down this
item as follows:
'1. To establish that the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments shall come into force on 30 June
1991 and shall be valid until 1 July 1998 except for the
tenants who dwell in the residential premises specified in
Paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of Article 2 of the Republic of Lithuania
Law on Privatisation of Apartments.'"
The petitioner has doubts concerning the compliance of not
whole Article 1 of the Seimas resolution of 1997 but only its
provision that the Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall be
valid until 1 July 1998 with Paragraph 1 of Article 29 of the
Constitution.
2. Article 1 of the second chapter of the law of 12
October 2000 provides that the Resolution of the Supreme
Council-Reconstituent Seimas "On the Entry into Force of the
Republic of Lithuania Law on Privatisation of Apartments" and
the Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall be recognised as
null and void.
The petitioner requests the Court to investigate if the
provision of the second chapter of the law of 12 October 2000
whereby the Law on Privatisation of Apartments is recognised as
null and void is in compliance with Paragraph 1 of Article 29
of the Constitution.
3. It is clear from the arguments set down that the
petitioner confronted the constitutionality problem of the
disputed provisions when it was considering if in the case
investigated by the petitioner the disputed legal acts as well
as the Law on Privatisation of Apartments must be applied.
It was held in the Constitutional Court decision of 11
July 1994 that "interpretation of the essence of a legal norm
is a duty of the state institution which applies the law.
Neither the Constitution nor the Law on the Constitutional
Court grants the right to the Constitutional Court to interpret
application of laws, therefore consideration of such a request
is not within the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court".
The Constitutional Court does not consider questions of
application of law, while doubts concerning application of laws
must be removed by courts themselves by construction of the
applicable norms (Constitutional Court decision of 11 July
1994, ruling of 11 January 2001).
Under Item 2 of Paragraph 1 of Article 69 of the Law on
the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court shall refuse
to consider petitions for the examination of the
constitutionality of a legal act by its decision if the
examination of the petition does not fall under the
jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court.
Conforming to Article 28 and Item 2 of Paragraph 1 of
Article 69 of the Republic of Lithuania Law on the
Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Lithuania has adopted the following
decision:
To refuse to consider the petition of the Kaunas Regional
Court requesting investigation into the compliance of the
provision of Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Resolution No.
VIII-206 "On Amending the Resolution of the Supreme Council 'On
the Entry into Force of the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments'" of 29 April 1997 whereby the
Republic of Lithuania Law on Privatisation of Apartments shall
be valid until 1 July 1998 and the provision of the second
chapter of the 12 October 2000 Republic of Lithuania Law "On
Supplementing the Law on Enabling the Population of the
Republic of Lithuania in Providing Themselves with Dwelling
Places with Article 13 and Amending Articles 14 and 18 thereof,
as well as on the Recognition of the Law on Privatisation of
Apartments and the Resolution of the Supreme
Council-Reconstituent Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania 'On
the Entry into Force of the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Privatisation of Apartments' as Null and Void" whereby the Law
on Privatisation of Apartments is recognised as null and void
with Paragraph 1 of Article 29 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania.