Lietuviškai
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
DECISION
ON ACCEPTING THE PETITION OF A PETITIONER
28 December 2006
Vilnius
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed of the Justices of the Constitutional Court Armanas
Abramavičius, Toma Birmontienė, Kęstutis Lapinskas, Zenonas
Namavičius, Ramutė Ruškytė, Vytautas Sinkevičius, Stasys
Stačiokas, and Romualdas Kęstutis Urbaitis,
with the secretary of the hearingDaiva Pitrėnaitė,
in the procedural sitting of the Constitutional Court
considered the petition (No. 1B-63) of the Vilnius Regional
Administrative Court, the petitioner, requesting to investigate
whether the provisions of Item 1 of Paragraph 1 and Item 1 of
Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Republic of Lithuania Law on
Amending the Law on State Social Insurance and the Law on
Composition of the Budget of the State Social Insurance Fund (No.
IX-1748), as well as, according to the petitioner, the provisions
of Paragraph 3 of Article 4 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article
8 of the "Law No. IX-2635 of 4 November 2004" to the extent that,
according to the petitioner, they establish that the self-
employed persons who receive social insurance old age pensions
have to pay social insurance contributions for the basic and the
complementary parts of the pension, and to the extent that,
according to the petitioner, the obligation for the self-employed
persons to pay contributions for the basic and the complementary
parts of the pension is related to 12 minimum monthly salaries
calculated under the procedure established by the law, are not in
conflict with Paragraph 2 of Article 29, Paragraph 1 of Article
48 and Article 52 of the Constitution of the Republic of
Lithuania and with the principles of justice and a state under
the rule of law entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of
Lithuania.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
I
1. The Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, the
petitioner, was considering an administrative case. By its
ruling, the said court suspended the consideration of the case
and applied to the Constitutional Court with a petition
requesting to investigate whether the provisions of Item 1 of
Paragraph 1 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Law on
Amending the Law on State Social Insurance and the Law on
Composition of the Budget of the State Social Insurance Fund (No.
IX-1748), as well as, according to the petitioner, the provisions
of Paragraph 3 of Article 4 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article
8 of the "Law No. IX-2635 of 4 November 2004" to the extent that,
according to the petitioner, they establish that the self-
employed persons who receive social insurance old age pensions
have to pay social insurance contributions for the basic and the
complementary parts of the pension, and to the extent that,
according to the petitioner, the obligation for the self-employed
persons to pay contributions for the basic and the complementary
parts of the pension is related to 12 minimum monthly salaries
calculated under the procedure established by the law, are not in
conflict with Paragraph 2 of Article 29, Paragraph 1 of Article
48 and Article 52 of the Constitution and with the principles of
justice and a state under the rule of law entrenched in the
Constitution. This petition was received at the Constitutional
Court on 16 November 2006.
2. It is specified in the petition that the disputed
provisions are entrenched in Item 1 of Paragraph 1 and Item 1 of
Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Law on Amending the Law on State
Social Insurance and the Law on Composition of the Budget of the
State Social Insurance Fund (No. IX-1748) and in Paragraph 3 of
Article 4 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the "Law No.
IX-2635 of 4 November 2004".
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
1. The Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, the
petitioner, requests to investigate whether the provisions of
Item 1 of Paragraph 1 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of
the Law on Amending the Law on State Social Insurance and the Law
on Composition of the Budget of the State Social Insurance Fund
(No. IX-1748), as well as, according to the petitioner, the
provisions of Paragraph 3 of Article 4 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2
of Article 8 of the "Law No. IX-2635 of 4 November 2004" to the
extent that, according to the petitioner, they establish that the
self-employed persons who receive social insurance old age
pensions have to pay social insurance contributions for the basic
and the complementary parts of the pension, and to the extent
that, according to the petitioner, the obligation for the self-
employed persons to pay contributions for the basic and the
complementary parts of the pension is related to 12 minimum
monthly salaries calculated under the procedure established by
the law, are not in conflict with Paragraph 2 of Article 29,
Paragraph 1 of Article 48 and Article 52 of the Constitution and
with the constitutional principles of justice and a state under
the rule of law.
Duplicates of the Law on Amending the Law on State Social
Insurance and the Law on Composition of the Budget of the State
Social Insurance Fund (No. IX-1748) which was adopted by the
Seimas on 7 October 2003 and of the Law on Amending the Law on
State Social Insurance (No. IX-2535) which was adopted by the
Seimas on 4 November 2004, i.e. duplicates of the texts published
in the official gazette "Valstybės žinios", are attached to the
petition.
2. On 21 May 1991, the Seimas adopted the Republic of
Lithuania Law on State Social Insurance (No. I-1336). The Law on
State Social Insurance (wording of 21 May 1991) has been amended
and/or supplemented more than once, inter alia by the Law on
Amending the Law on State Social Insurance and the Law on
Composition of the Budget of the State Social Insurance Fund (No.
IX-1748) which was adopted by the Seimas on 7 October 2003, and
by the Law on Amending the Law on State Social Insurance (No. IX-
2535) which was adopted by the Seimas on 4 November 2004.
Article 2 of the First Chapter titled "Amendment of
Articles 4 and 34 of the Law on State Social Insurance" of the
Law on Amending the Law on State Social Insurance and the Law on
Composition of the Budget of the State Social Insurance Fund (No.
IX-1748) which was adopted by the Seimas on 7 October 2003,
amended inter alia Paragraphs 3 and 4 (wording of 4 July 2002) of
the Law on State Social Insurance (wording of 21 May 1991) and
Article 1 of the Law on Amending the Law on State Social
Insurance (No. IX-2535) which was adopted by the Seimas on 4
November 2004 set forth the Law on State Social Insurance
(wording of 21 May 1991) in a new wording.
3. It needs to be noted that even though the petitioner
requests to investigate whether the provisions of Item 1 of
Paragraph 1 and Item 1 of Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Law on
Amending the Law on State Social Insurance and the Law on
Composition of the Budget of the State Social Insurance Fund (No.
IX-1748), which was adopted by the Seimas on 7 October 2003, are
not in conflict with the Constitution, it is obvious from the
petition of the petitioner that he doubted whether the provisions
of Item 1 (wording of 7 October 2003) of Paragraph 3 and Item 1
(wording of 7 October 2003) of Paragraph 4 of Article 34 of the
Law on State Social Insurance, to the extent that, according to
the petitioner, they establish that the self-employed persons who
receive social insurance old age pensions have to pay social
insurance contributions for the basic and the complementary parts
of the pension, and to the extent that, according to the
petitioner, the obligation for the self-employed persons to pay
contributions for the basic and the complementary parts of the
pension is related to 12 minimum monthly salaries calculated
under the procedure established by the law are not in conflict
with Paragraph 2 of Article 29, Paragraph 1 of Article 48 and
Article 52 of the Constitution and with the constitutional
principles of justice and a state under the rule of law.
4. It needs to be noted that even though the petitioner
does not specify the title of the disputed "Law No. IX-2635 of 4
November 2004" and he specifies the number of the law in the
resolution part of the ruling (as well as in some other places of
the petition) in a wrong way, however, it is obvious from the
text of the law published in the official gazette "Valstybės
žinios" which was attached to the petition of the petitioner and
from the arguments of the petitioner that the petitioner disputes
the provisions of Paragraph 3 (wording of 4 November 2004) of
Article 4 and Item 1 (wording of 4 November 2004) of Paragraph 2
of Article 8 of the Law on State Social Insurance.
Conforming to Article 102 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania and Article 1, Paragraph 2 of Article 25
and Article 28 of the Law on the Constitutional Court of the
Republic of Lithuania, the Constitutional Court of the Republic
of Lithuania has passed the following
decision:
To accept the petition (No. 1B-63) of the Vilnius
Regional Administrative Court, the petitioner, requesting to
investigate whether the provisions of Item 1 (wording of 7
October 2003) of Paragraph 3 of Article 34 and of Item 1 (wording
of 7 October 2003) of Paragraph 4 of the same article of the
Republic of Lithuania Law on State Social Insurance, as well as
of Paragraph 3 (wording of 4 November 2004) of Article 4 and Item
1 (wording of 4 November 2004) of Paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the
Law on State Social Insurance, to the extent that, according to
the petitioner, they establish that the self-employed persons who
receive social insurance old age pensions have to pay social
insurance contributions for the basic and the complementary parts
of the pension, and to the extent that, according to the
petitioner, the obligation for the self-employed persons to pay
contributions for the basic and the complementary parts of the
pension is related to 12 minimum monthly salaries calculated
under the procedure established by the law are not in conflict
with Paragraph 2 of Article 29, Paragraph 1 of Article 48 and
Article 52 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and
with the constitutional principles of justice and a state under
the rule of law.
Justices of the Constitutional Court: Armanas Abramavičius
Toma Birmontienė
Kęstutis Lapinskas
Zenonas Namavičius
Ramutė Ruškytė
Vytautas Sinkevičius
Stasys Stačiokas
Romualdas Kęstutis Urbaitis