Lietuviškai
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA
RULING
ON THE COMPLIANCE OF RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT
OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA NO. 99 "ON THE
DEDUCTIONS FOR BUILDING, REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE OF
PUBLIC AUTOMOBILE ROADS" OF 23 FEBRUARY 1993 WITH
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
3 June 2002
Vilnius
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed of the Justices of the Constitutional Court Armanas
Abramavičius, Egidijus Jarašiūnas, Egidijus Kūris, Kęstutis
Lapinskas, Zenonas Namavičius, Augustinas Normantas, Jonas
Prapiestis, Vytautas Sinkevičius and Stasys Sačiokas.
with the secretary of the hearing-Daiva Pitrėnaitė,
in the presence of:
the representative of the party concerned, the Government
of the Republic of Lithuania, who was Janina Žukauskienė,
Director of Law Department of the Ministry of Transport and
Communications of the Republic of Lithuania,
pursuant to Articles 102 and 105 of the Constitution of
the Republic of Lithuania and Article 1 of the Republic of
Lithuania Law on the Constitutional Court, on 29 May 2002 in
its public hearing heard Case No. 28/2000 which originated in a
petition of the Kaunas City District Court, the petitioner,
requesting to determine whether Resolution of the Government of
the Republic of Lithuania No. 99 "On the Deductions for
Building, Repair and Maintenance of Public Automobile Roads" of
23 February 1993 was in compliance with Item 15 of Article 67
of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
I
The petitioner, the Kaunas City District Court, was
investigating a civil case. The said court suspended the
investigation of the case by its order and addressed the
Constitutional Court requesting to determine whether Resolution
of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania No. 99 "On the
Deductions for Building, Repair and Maintenance of Public
Automobile Roads" of 23 February 1993 (Official Gazette
Valstybės žinios, 1993, No. 8-182) was in compliance with Item
15 of Article 67 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Lithuania.
II
The petitioner grounds his petition on the following
arguments.
According to Paragraph 3 of Article 127 of the
Constitution, laws of the Republic of Lithuania establish other
budgetary payments and dues. Item 15 of Article 67 of the
Constitution establishes that the Seimas establishes state
taxes and other obligatory payments. However, the deductions
for building, repair and maintenance of public roads were
established by Government Resolution No. 99 "On the Deductions
for Building, Repair and Maintenance of Public Automobile
Roads" of 23 February 1993, but not by a law adopted by the
Seimas. Therefore, the petitioner is of the opinion that
Government Resolution No. 99 "On the Deductions for Building,
Repair and Maintenance of Public Automobile Roads" of 23
February 1993 conflicts with Item 15 of Article 67 of the
Constitution.
III
In the course of the preparation of the case for the
Constitutional Court hearing, written explanations were
received from the representatives of the party concerned, the
Government, who were J. Žukauskienė, Director of the Law
Department of the Ministry of Transport and Communications and
J. Puluikis, Deputy Director General of the Lithuanian
Automobile Roads' Administration under the Ministry of
Transport and Communications.
The representatives of the party concerned emphasise that
after the independence of the Lithuanian State had been
restored, on 8 January 1991 the Government adopted Resolution
No. 21 "On the Objective Deductions for Building of Roads" in
order to ensure further financing of building, repair and
maintenance of public roads and established certain deductions
from enterprises, which had some income from operation of means
of transport.
On 17 July 1991, the Government adopted Resolution No. 280
"On the Deductions and Dues for Repair and Maintenance of
Public Automobile Roads" which established that "dues collected
from the owners of means of transport and incomes of
enterprises having the rights of legal and natural persons
shall be used to finance the repairing and maintenance of
public automobile roads".
On 8 October 1991, the Seimas adopted the Law on the
Principles of the Activities of Transport, Article 6 of which
established that for the use of automobile roads legal and
natural persons shall pay dues in the amount established by the
Government. The representatives of the party concerned maintain
that in the course of implementation of the said provisions of
the said law, on 8 January 1992 the Government adopted
Resolution No. 10 "On the Partial Amendment of Resolution of
the Government of the Republic of Lithuania No. 280 of 17 July
1991", while on 23 February 1993 it adopted Resolution No. 99
"On the Deductions for Building, Repair and Maintenance of
Public Automobile Roads".
The representatives of the party concerned also note that
the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Road Fund was adopted on
24 January 1995. Government Resolution No. 778 "On the
Implementation of the Law on Road Fund" of 2 June 1995 annulled
disputed Government Resolution No. 99 "On the Deductions for
Building, Repair and Maintenance of Public Automobile Roads" of
23 February 1993. Taking into consideration that the disputed
legal act is abolished and on the basis of Paragraph 4 of
Article 69 of the Republic of Lithuania Law on the
Constitutional Court, the representatives of the party
concerned request to dismiss the initiated legal proceedings.
IV
At the Constitutional Court hearing, the representative of
the party concerned, the Government, J. Žukauskienė presented
an additional written explanation and an official letter of V.
Puodžiukas, Director General of the Lithuanian Automobile
Roads' Administration, which were both added to the case.
At the Constitutional Court hearing, J. Žukauskienė
virtually reiterated the statements set down in her written
explanations.
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
I
1. On 23 February 1993, the Government adopted Resolution
No. 99 "On the Deductions for Building, Repair and Maintenance
of Public Automobile Roads".
The petitioner requests to determine whether Government
Resolution No. 99 "On the Deductions for Building, Repair and
Maintenance of Public Automobile Roads" of 23 February 1993 is
in compliance with Item 15 of Article 67 of the Constitution.
The petitioner maintains that Item 15 of Article 67 of the
Constitution provides that the Seimas establishes state taxes
and other obligatory payments. However, the deductions for
building, repair and maintenance of public automobile roads
were established by a governmental resolution.
2. On 2 June 1995 the Government adopted Resolution No.
788 "On Implementation of the Law on the Road Fund" which
annulled the disputed resolution.
According to Paragraph 4 of Article 69 of the Law on the
Constitutional Court, annulment of a legal act shall be grounds
to dismiss the initiated legal proceedings. The wording "shall
be grounds <...> to dismiss the initiated legal proceedings"
should be interpreted as providing for a right of the
Constitutional Court, taking into consideration the
circumstances of the case, to dismiss the initiated
proceedings, however, not establishing that in every case when
a disputed legal act had been abolished, the initiated legal
proceeding must be dismissed (Rulings of the Constitutional
Court of 5 April 2000, 4 March 2002, 10 May 2002).
It needs to be noted that after the Kaunas City District
Court had addressed the Constitutional Court with a request to
determine whether the disputed governmental resolution was in
compliance with the Constitution, while if the Constitutional
Court did not decide this question in essence, the doubts of
the local court as to the compliance of the disputed
governmental resolution would not be eliminated. Without
eliminating these doubts, the application of this act in the
adjudication of the case at the local court could cause a
violation of constitutional rights and freedoms.
II
1. Item 15 of Article 67 of the Constitution establishes
that the Seimas "establishes State taxes and other obligatory
payments".
It needs to be noted that this constitutional provision is
inseparable from the provision of Paragraph 3 of Article 127 of
the Constitution establishing that "taxes, other budgetary
payments, and dues shall be established by the laws of the
Republic of Lithuania". Therefore, according to the
Constitution, only the Seimas may establish state taxes and
other obligatory payments and only by a law.
State taxes and other obligatory payments are a monetary
obligation of legal subjects to the state. The constitutional
requirement to establish state taxes and other obligatory
payments only by a law is an important guarantee of the
protection of individuals' rights. The law, establishing taxes
and other obligatory payments, must determine such essential
elements of a tax or other obligatory payment as a payer,
object, amounts, exemptions and terms of payments of the tax or
other obligatory payment.
The Constitutional Court more than once held in its
rulings that if the Constitution directly establishes
authorisations of a certain public institution, no other
institution may take over these authorisations, while the
former institution may not transfer or renounce its
authorisations. Such authorisations may not be changed or
limited by the law. Therefore, the Seimas may not transfer its
constitutional authorisations to establish state taxes and
other obligatory payments to another institution, including the
Government. The Government or any other institution may not
take over such authorisations.
2. On 23 February 1993, the Government adopted Resolution
No. 99 "On the Deductions for Building, Repair and Maintenance
of Public Automobile Roads" which established deductions from
received income (to the extent of the turnover) and their
amounts. These deductions were allocated for building, repair
and maintenance of public automobile roads. The enterprises
having rights of legal or natural persons, as well as banks,
had to transfer those deductions to special automobile roads
accounts. The amounts of deductions from the income received
for realization of petrol and diesel fuel were also established
in the said resolution. The Ministry of Transport and
Communications was responsible for the establishment of a
calculation procedure of the deductions.
3. It needs to be noted that the disputed governmental
resolution had established a monetary obligation of the state,
i.e. deductions for building, repair and maintenance of public
automobile roads. The same resolution also determined the
payers, object and amounts of the deductions.
Therefore, "deductions for building, repair and
maintenance of public automobile roads" are obligatory payments
in the sense of Item 15 of Article 67 of the Constitution.
According to the Constitution, only a law adopted by the Seimas
ought to have established such payments and their essential
elements.
4. Taking account of the arguments set forth, one is to
conclude that Government Resolution No. 99 "On the Deductions
for Building, Repair and Maintenance of Public Automobile
Roads" of 23 February 1993 was in conflict with Item 15 of
Article 67 of the Constitution.
Conforming to Articles 102 and 105 of the Constitution of
the Republic of Lithuania and Articles 1, 53, 54, 55 and 56 of
the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Constitutional Court, the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has passed
the following
ruling:
To recognize that Resolution of the Government of the
Republic of Lithuania No. 99 "On the Deductions for Building,
Repair and Maintenance of Public Automobile Roads" of 23
February 1993 conflicted with Item 15 of Article 67 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
This Constitutional Court ruling is final and not subject
to appeal.
The ruling is promulgated on behalf of the Republic of
Lithuania.