Case No. 31/06-08/07
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
RULING
ON THE COMPLIANCE OF PARAGRAPH 4 (WORDING OF 23 DECEMBER
2005) OF ARTICLE 18 OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT CODE OF THE
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA WITH THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
5 March 2008
Vilnius
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed of the Justices of the Constitutional Court Armanas
Abramavičius, Toma Birmontienė, Egidijus Kūris, Kęstutis
Lapinskas, Zenonas Namavičius, Ramutė Ruškytė, Vytautas
Sinkevičius and Romualdas Kęstutis Urbaitis,
with the secretary of the hearingDaiva Pitrėnaitė,
in the presence of the representative of the Seimas of the
Republic of Lithuania, the party concerned, who was the Member of
the Seimas Jurgis Razma (representing the Seimas, the party
concerned, in the part of the case subsequent to petition No. 1B-
09/2007 of the Klaipėda Regional Administrative Court, a
petitioner),
pursuant to Articles 102 and 105 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania and Article 1 of the Law on the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, in its public
hearing on 29 February 2008 heard constitutional justice case No.
31/06-08/07 subsequent to the following:
1) the petition of the Vilnius Regional Administrative
Court, a petitioner, requesting to investigate whether Paragraph
4 (wording of 23 December 2005) of Article 18 of the Road
Transport Code of the Republic of Lithuania, to the extent that
it established that carriers providing charter runs are
prohibited from picking and carrying groups of passengers from
the territories of streets and grounds, whose limits are
established by municipal institutions, and which border with bus
stations, is not in conflict with Article 46 of the Constitution
of the Republic of Lithuania (petition No. 1B-38/2006);
2) the petition of the Klaipėda Regional Administrative
Court, a petitioner, requesting to investigate whether Paragraph
4 (wording of 23 December 2005) of Article 18 of the Road
Transport Code of the Republic of Lithuania, to the extent that
it established that carriers providing charter runs are
prohibited from picking and carrying groups of passengers from
the territories of streets and grounds, whose limits are
established by municipal institutions, and which border with bus
stations, is not in conflict with Article 46 of the Constitution
of the Republic of Lithuania (petition No. 1B-09/2007).
By the Constitutional Court Decision "On joining petitions
into one case" of 1 October 2007, petition No. 1B-38/2006 (case
No. 31/06) of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, a
petitioner, and petition No. 1B-09/2007 (case No. 08/07) of the
Klaipėda Regional Administrative Court, a petitioner, were joined
into one case and it was given reference No. 31/06-08/07.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
I
1. The Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, a petitioner,
was investigating 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 Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005) of Article 18
of the Road Transport Code, to the extent that it established
that carriers providing charter runs are prohibited from picking
and carrying groups of passengers from the territories of streets
and grounds, whose limits are established by municipal
institutions, and which border with bus stations, is not in
conflict with Article 46 of the Constitution (petition No. 1B-
38/2006).
2. The Klaipėda Regional Administrative Court, a petitioner,
was investigating 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 Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005) of Article 18
of the Road Transport Code, to the extent that it established
that carriers providing charter runs are prohibited from picking
and carrying groups of passengers from the territories of streets
and grounds, whose limits are established by municipal
institutions, and which border with bus stations, is not in
conflict with Article 46 of the Constitution (petition No. 1B-
09/2007).
II
The petitions of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court
and the Klaipėda Regional Administrative Court, the petitioners,
are grounded on the following arguments.
1. Under Article 46 of the Constitution, Lithuania's economy
shall be based on the right of private ownership, prohibition of
monopolisation of production and the market, and upon protection
of freedom of fair competition. Under the Republic of Lithuania
Law on the Basics of Transportation Activity, in Lithuania, one
may engage in the economic activity by using transport objects
which by the right of ownership belong to the state,
municipalities and private persons, while the state ensures that
the carriers could enter into the transport services' market
without being discriminated, as well as it ensures the
independence of the activity of carriers and free and fair
competition in the transport services' market. The Republic of
Lithuania Law on Competition prohibits any agreements, whereby
one seeks to limit competition or which limit or may limit
competition. The principle of non-discrimination of carriers of
all kinds is entrenched in Regulation 684/92/EEC of the Council
of the European Communities.
2. Fleets of buses and bus stations are an area of
regulation by municipalities; the administration of a
municipality has the right to establish the limits of the
territory in which it is prohibited to pick groups of passengers.
In the opinion of a petitioner, Paragraph 4 (wording of 23
December 2005) of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code enshrines
exceptional rights and conditions of the activity of the
enterprises which provide for carriage of passengers and which by
the right of ownership belong to municipalities, and those of
carriers providing regular runs which carry out their activities
from bus stations, creates preconditions for distorting fair
competition in the market of long-distance carriage of
passengers, for monopolising carriage of passengers, for
discriminating (private) carriers providing charter runs, who
work legally, and deprives passengers of a possibility to choose
the carrier, the kind of vehicle, and the price.
III
In the course of the preparation of the case for the
Constitutional Court hearing, written explanations from the
representative of the Seimas, the party concerned, who was the
Member of the Seimas E. Pupinis (representing the Seimas, the
party concerned, in the part of the case subsequent to petition
No. 1B-38/2006 of the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, a
petitioner) were received in which it is stated that the disputed
legal regulation is not in conflict with Article 46 of the
Constitution; a letter from the representative of the Seimas, a
petitioner, who was the Member of the Seimas J. Razma was also
received in which it is assented to the aforementioned written
explanations. The position of the Member of the Seimas E.
Pupinis, the representative of the Seimas, the party concerned,
is based on the following arguments.
Carriage of passengers is executed by regular, special and
charter runs. Carriage of passengers for a fare (both by charter
and by regular runs) is a licensed economic activity; in
addition, in order to carry passengers by regular runs, one must
have a permission to carry passengers over established routes of
regular runs, following the established routes, transport
timetables, pulling into the bus stations specified in them, etc.
The markets of carriage of passengers by charter and regular runs
from bus stations (as well as of carriage of passengers by
special runs) are different, thus, carriers in such markets
cannot compete among themselves under equal rights. The main
purpose of bus stations is to provide services to passengers who
travel by regular runs which are executed not only by carriers
which are attributed to the area of regulation by municipalities,
but also by private carriers. As long as the disputed provisions
did not exist, the competition had not been fair, it used to harm
the carriers of regular runs, because the carriers of charter
runs would not follow the requirements to carry groups of
passengers assembled in advance which have the same destination
and to hold contracts of carriage of passengers and waybills; by
carrying the passengers who were waiting for regular runs at bus
stations and by concluding fictitious contracts of carriage of
passengers, they actually provided regular runs without following
the requirements established for such runs. Paragraph 4 of
Article 18 of the Road Transport Code does not prohibit carriers
of charter runs from carrying out their activity from other
places which are not specified in this paragraph. Its provisions
are not meant to monopolise carriage of passengers from bus
stations, nor to prohibit fair competition.
IV
1. At the Constitutional Court hearing, the representative
of the Seimas, the party concerned, who was the Member of the
Seimas J. Razma, virtually reiterated the arguments set forth in
the written explanations of the representative of the Seimas, the
party concerned, the Member of the Seimas E. Pupinis.
2. At the Constitutional Court hearing, a specialistP.
Mikalonis, Deputy Director of the Road Transport Department of
the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of
Lithuaniatook the floor.
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
I
1. On 19 November 1996, the Seimas adopted the Rode
Transport Code which came into force on 11 December 1996.
Paragraph 4 (wording of 19 November 1996) of Article 18 of this
code established: "Irregular runs are runs where groups of
passengers formed in advance are brought to their destination and
back to their place of departure, or a group of passengers which
is composed of the passengers who departed and who will be
brought back to the place of departure by a later run."
2. The Road Transport Code (wording of 19 November 1996) has
been amended and/or supplemented more than once. Article 18
(wording of 19 November 1996) thereof was amended and set forth
in a new wording by Article 11 of the Republic of Lithuania Law
on Amending Articles 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21,
23, 29, 37, 40, 42, 44, 47, and the Title of the Seventh Section
of the Road Transport Code, Supplementing the Code with Article
17-1 and Recognition of Articles 57 and 58 Thereof as Null and
Void, which was adopted by the Seimas on 19 March 2002 and which
came into force on 9 April 2002. Paragraph 4 (wording of 19 March
2002) of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code established:
"Charter runs are runs when groups of passengers assembled
in advance are brought to their destination and are brought to
their place of departure, or a previously transported group of
passengers is brought back to the place of departure by a later
run, or where a group of passengers are carried to their
destination and the vehicle returns to the place of departure
empty. Groups of passengers assembled in advance shall be carried
provided that contracts of carriage of passengers and waybills
are held. Waybills shall not be necessary if passenger groups are
carried around the city in which the events specified in
Paragraph 8 of Article 2 of this Code are held. The form of the
waybills, the procedure for their accounting, ordering,
manufacture, technological security, distribution, acquisition,
use and destruction shall be established by the Ministry of
Transport".
It needs to be noted that the charter runs which are
specified in Paragraph 4 (wording of 19 March 2002) of Article 18
of the Road Transport Code are not to be regarded as a new form
of carriage of passengers as the concept of the notion "charter
runs" is virtually analogous to the former concept "irregular
runs" of Paragraph 4 (wording of 19 November 1996) of Article 18
of this code.
3. On 23 December 2005, the Seimas adopted the Republic of
Lithuania Law on Amending Articles 14, 16 and 18 of the Road
Transport Code, which came into force on 31 December 2005 (save
Article 2 thereof). Article 3 of this law amended Paragraph 4
(wording of 19 March 2002) of Article 18 of the Road Transport
Code and set it forth in a new wording. Paragraph 4 (wording of
23 December 2005) of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code
established the following:
"Charter runs are runs when groups of passengers assembled
in advance are brought to their destination and are brought to
their place of departure, or a previously transported group of
passengers is brought back to the place of departure by a later
run, or where a group of passengers are carried to their
destination and the vehicle returns to the place of departure
empty. Groups of passengers assembled in advance shall be carried
provided that contracts of carriage of passengers and waybills
are held. Waybills shall not be necessary if passenger groups are
carried around the city in which the events specified in
Paragraph 8 of Article 2 of this Code are held. The form of the
waybills, the procedure for their accounting, ordering,
manufacture, technological security, distribution, acquisition,
use and destruction shall be established by the Ministry of
Transport. It is prohibited to pick and carry groups of
passengers from the territories of streets and grounds bordering
with bus stations. The limits of these territories of streets and
grounds shall be established by municipal institutions."
4. The Vilnius Regional Administrative Court and the
Klaipėda Regional Administrative Court, the petitioners, request
to investigate whether Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005)
of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code, to the extent that it
established that carriers providing charter runs are prohibited
from picking and carrying groups of passengers from the
territories of streets and grounds, whose limits are established
by municipal institutions, and which border with bus stations, is
not in conflict with Article 46 of the Constitution.
5. Article 46 of the Constitution provides: Lithuania's
economy shall be based on the right of private ownership, freedom
of individual economic activity and initiative (Paragraph 1); the
state shall support economic efforts and initiative that are
useful to society (Paragraph 2); the state shall regulate
economic activity so that it serves the general welfare of the
Nation (Paragraph 3); the law shall prohibit monopolisation of
production and the market and shall protect freedom of fair
competition (Paragraph 4); the state shall defend the interests
of the consumer (Paragraph 5).
6. It needs to be noted that the principles enshrined in
Article 46 of the Constitution constitute a whole, which is the
constitutional basis of the economy of this country; the
provisions of all paragraphs of this article are interrelated and
supplement each other, there is a balance between these
principles, each of them is interpreted without denying the other
principles. In the acts of the Constitutional Court, inter alia
rulings of 20 April 1995, 13 February 1997, 27 October 1998, 6
October 1999, 23 February 2000, 18 October 2000, 6 December 2000,
14 March 2002, 9 April 2002, 17 March 2003, 26 January 2004, 13
May 2005 and 31 May 2006, a broad official constitutional
doctrine is set forth, in which the provisions of Article 46 of
the Constitution is construed. In addition, it has been held
that: freedom and initiative of individual economic activity
imply the freedom to freely choose business, freedom to freely
conclude agreements, freedom of fair competition, equal rights of
entities of economic activity, etc., however, the freedom of
economic activity is not absolute, the person enjoys it only by
following certain obligatory requirements and limitations; it is
impermissible by means of established limitations to deny such
essential provisions of freedom of economic activity as equality
of rights of entities of economic activity, fair competition,
etc.; under the Constitution, the state may not unrestrictedly
interfere with the economic activity of a person; the state
obligation to support economic efforts and initiative which are
useful to society is one of the main rules regulating the economy
of this country; while regulating economic activity, the state
has to follow the principle of coordination of interests of the
person and society and has to guarantee the interests of both the
private person (a subject of economic activity) and interests of
society; as a rule, regulation of economic activity is linked
with establishment of conditions for economic activity,
regulation of certain procedures, control of economic activity,
as well as with certain limitations and prohibitions of this
activity; the state may not establish any such legal regulation
whereby unfavourable and unequal economic conditions are
established to economic entities, whereby their initiative is
restricted and opportunities for its manifestation are not
created; the provision that the law protects freedom of fair
competition also means the obligation of the legislator to
establish by laws such legal regulation that production and the
market would not be monopolised, that fair competition and
freedom of economic activity would be ensured that the means and
ways would be provided for in order to protect it; the
constitutional guarantee of the protection of fair competition
inter alia means the prohibition for state and municipal
institutions which regulate economic activity to adopt decisions
which distort or can distort fair competition; introduction of a
monopoly (which is prohibited by the Constitution) is an
ungrounded granting of privileges to a certain economic entity
and, alongside, discrimination of other economic entities,
restriction of their freedom of economic activity; the duty of
the state to protect the interests of consumers implies that laws
and other legal acts ought to establish various measures of
protection of the interests of consumers, that state institutions
ought to control economic entities how the latter are following
the requirements established by laws and other legal acts.
7. The legislator, having the constitutional duty to
regulate the economic activity so that it serves the general
welfare of the Nation, also regulates by means of laws the
economic activity of carriers of passengers, establishes
conditions for this activity, requirements for implementation of
this activity, restrictions and prohibitions of this activity, as
well as the control of the economic activity of carriers of
passengers. Certain relations of economic activity of carriers of
passengers may also be regulated by substatutory legal acts.
However, under the Constitution, one may establish essential
conditions for an economic activity, as well as prohibitions and
restrictions thereof, which make an essential impact on the
economic activity, as well as sanctions for corresponding
violations of law, only by means of a law. The legal regulation
which is established by substatutory legal acts may not compete
with one established in a law.
8. In order to be implemented more efficiently, certain
functions, including those which are linked to the regulation of
the economic activity of carriers of passengers, may, and
sometimes also must, be delegated to municipalities. Under the
Constitution, functions of municipalities may be established only
by law and in a way that it would be clear to which extent a
certain function is performed by the municipality and to which
extent it is left to perform this function by the state; none of
these functions means absolute independence of municipalities in
the respective area (Constitutional Court ruling of 8 July 2005).
While performing the attributed functions, the municipalities
must heed the Constitution and laws.
9. Under the Road Transport Code, carriage of passengers for
a fare is a licensed economic activity (Paragraph 1 (wording of
19 March 2002) of Article 8); a licence (permit) to engage in
carriage of passengers on long-distance routes shall be issued by
the State Road Transport Inspectorate under the Ministry of
Transport (Paragraph 4 (wording of 29 April 2004) of Article 8).
Passengers shall be provided inter alia with regular and charter
runs along long-distance routes (Paragraph 2 (wording of 19 March
2002) of Article 18). The economic activity of carriage of
passengers may be implemented by using transport objects which,
by the right of ownership, belong to the state, municipalities
and private persons.
10. It immediately needs to be mentioned that the relations
linked with carriage of passengers by regular runs and the
relations linked with carriage of passengers by charter runs may
(and must) be regulated by legal acts in a different mannerthe
legal regulation in question reflects the specificity of the
corresponding economic activity and of the corresponding market,
because some carriers provide carrying services to the passengers
who travel on regular routes, while othersto the passengers who
travel on charter routes. The differentiated legal regulation of
these relations is not in itself to be considered as creation of
unfair conditions for competition in the same market. In
addition, the possibility itself to differently legally regulate
the relations linked to carriage of passengers by regular runs
and the relations linked to carriage of passengers by charter
runs is not disputed in this constitutional justice case at
issue.
11. The prohibition to pick and carry groups of passengers
from the territories of streets and grounds, whose limits are
established by municipal institutions, and which border with bus
stations established in Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005)
of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code, which is disputed by
the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court and the Klaipėda
Regional Administrative Court, the petitioners, is to be
construed while relating it with other provisions of this code,
inter alia the provisions which define what runs are charter runs
and in what way they are different from regular runs, as well as
the provisions which define what groups of passengers are to be
considered as those assembled in advance.
12. Regular runs are runs where passengers are carried at
specified intervals along specified routes, passengers being
taken up and set down at predetermined stopping points according
to the timetable and rates set in advance (Paragraph 3 (wording
of 19 March 2002) of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code); the
licence to engage in carrying passengers by regular runs on an
established route is issued according to the conditions approved
by the Ministry of Transport (Paragraph 11 (wording of 19 March
2002) of Article 18); bus stations shall be established to
provide services to the passengers who travel by means of regular
runs (Paragraph 1 (wording of 29 April 2004) of Article 11).
In this context, it needs to be noted that bus stations are
established namely for ensuring servicing of the passengers of
regular runs; according to the Road Transport Code, the main
purpose of bus stations is to provide passengers with regular
runs over long-distance and international routes, to organise
checking of buses' crew before trips and their rest in between
the runs, to control the time of departure and arrival of buses,
to sell tickets to passengers, to provide them with information
and luggage keeping services; this main purpose of the bus
stations may not be changed (Paragraph 1 (wording of 29 April
2004) of Article 11). Bus stations may be founded by
municipalities, natural and legal persons of the Republic of
Lithuania and those from abroad, affiliates or representations of
foreign legal persons (Paragraph 2 (wording of 29 April 2004) of
Article 11).
13. However, as it has been mentioned, under Paragraph 4
(wording of 23 December 2005) of Article 18 of the Road Transport
Code, charter runs are executed by carrying "groups of passengers
assembled in advance, which have a common destination" when
groups of passengers assembled in advance, which have a common
destination, are brought to their destination and are brought to
their place of departure or where a group of passengers, which
had been brought earlier, is brought back to their place of
departure by a later run, or where a group of passengers is
brought to their place of destination and the vehicle returns to
the place of departure empty. For such carriage of passengers,
differently from the regular carriage of passengers, licences are
not necessary because groups of passengers assembled in advance
are brought while holding contracts of carriage of passengers and
waybills. Under Paragraph 8 (wording of 19 March 2002) of Article
2 of the Road Transport Code, the group of passengers assembled
in advance is "a group with which a carriage contract is
concluded in advance (when the passengers are going on tourist
tours, on business, also on the occasion of such events as
exhibitions, symposia, conferences, seminars, meetings, concerts,
stage performances, weddings or on similar occasions)".
Thus, under the Road Transport Code, only such groups of
passengers are allowed to be carried by charter runs, which were
assembled in advance after having submitted an order to the
carrier and having concluded a contract for carriage of
passengers with him in advance, but not such, which are assembled
on the spot and depart immediately, purportedly by a charter run;
in all cases it is prohibited to carry groups of passengers which
are assembled on the spot and which depart immediately
(purportedly by a charter run), i.e. the groups of passengers
which are assembled without having submitted the carrier with an
advance order and without having concluded a contract for
carriage of passengers with him in advance. Therefore, it is
prohibited to carry groups of passengers, which were assembled
without having submitted the carrier with an advance order and
without having concluded a contract for carriage of passengers
with him in advance by charter runs from any places, not only
from streets and grounds bordering with bus stations (whose
limits, as mentioned, are established by municipal institutions).
14. In the context of the constitutional justice case at
issue, it is to be emphasised that a group of passengers
assembled from passengers who were waiting for regular runs in
the territory of a bus station or nearby, as well as in other
places used for the same purpose, as well as a group of
passengers assembled from other persons regarding the carriage of
whom no advance order was submitted to the carrier and no
contract for carriage was concluded with him, may by no means be
regarded as a group of passengers assembled in advance which is
specified in Paragraph 8 (wording of 19 March 2002) of Article 2
of the Road Transport Code. Under this code, the carriers who
provide with charter runs' services and not with regular runs'
services, cannot carry such groups of passengers formed of those
who are waiting for regular runs, as well as other persons,
regarding the carriage of whom no advance order was submitted to
the carrier and no contract for carriage of passengers was
concluded with him in advance, as well as groups picked not only
from the territories of streets and grounds (the limits of which,
as it has been mentioned, are established by municipal
institutions) bordering with bus stations, but also from all
other places. Carrying of groups of passengers formed from
passengers who were waiting for regular runs, as well as groups
assembled from other persons regarding the carrying of whom no
advance order was submitted to the carrier and no contract for
carriage of passengers was concluded with him in advance, would
not comply with the definition of the notion "charter runs"
contained in Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005) of Article
18 of the Road Transport Code and with the purpose of charter
runs.
15. The prohibition for carriers providing charter runs to
pick and carry groups of passengers from the territories of
streets and grounds (whose limits, as mentioned, are established
by municipal institutions) bordering with bus stations, which is
entrenched in Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005) of
Article 18 of the Road Transport Code, means that in the said
territories, carriers providing charter runs are prohibited from
assembling groups of passengers from passengers waiting for
regular runs, as well as from other persons regarding the
carrying of whom no advance order was submitted to the carrier
and no contract for carriage of passengers was concluded with him
in advance. However, this prohibition is not to be construed as
including also the prohibition for carriers of charter runs from
boarding groups of passengers assembled in advance, which comply
with the definition of the group of passengers assembled in
advance established in Paragraph 8 (wording of 19 March 2002) of
Article 2 of the Road Transport Code, on the vehicle in the said
territories, and from carrying them from the said territories.
16. Since, as it has been mentioned, carrying of groups of
passengers assembled from the passengers who were waiting for
regular runs, as well as from other persons regarding the
carrying of which no advance order was submitted to the carrier
and no contract for carriage of passengers was concluded with him
in advance, would not comply with the definition of the notion
"charter runs" contained in Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December
2005) of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code and with the
purpose of charter runs, it is prohibited to carry groups of
passengers which were assembled without having submitted the
carrier with an advance order and without having concluded a
contract for carriage of passengers with him in advance by
charter runs from any places, not only from the territories of
streets and grounds (whose limits, as mentioned, are established
by municipal institutions) bordering with bus stations, thus the
said prohibition is to be assessed as redundant; even though such
prohibition were not established expressis verbis, it would still
be enshrined in this code, as it stems from the concept of a
charter run itself.
Also the corresponding duty to establish the limits of the
territories of streets and grounds, which are established to
municipal institutions, which border with bus stations, and from
which it is prohibited to pick groups of passengers and to carry
them by charter runs, is also to be assessed as redundant: these
limits do not mark anything in essence, because even without
establishment of such prohibition expressis verbis, carriers of
charter runs, under the Road Transport Code, do not have the
right to carry any freshly assembled and immediately leaving
(purportedly by a charter run) groups of passengers, i.e. groups
of passengers which were assembled without having submitted the
carrier with an advance order and without having concluded a
contract for carriage of passengers with him in advance,
regardless of whether such groups of passengers are assembled
within any territories of streets and grounds (which are defined
by municipal institutions) bordering with bus stations, or beyond
the limits of such territories.
17. If one comprehends the prohibition for carriers of
charter runs to pick and carry groups of passengers from the
territories of streets and grounds (whose limits, as mentioned,
are established by municipal institutions) bordering with bus
stations established in Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005)
of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code in this way, there is no
ground to state that it discriminates carriers of charter
(private) runs, violates the right of fair competition, distorts
fair competition in the market of carriage of passengers or
creates preconditions to monopolise that market.
18. Taking account of the arguments set forth, one is to
draw a conclusion that Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005)
of Article 18 of the Road Transport Code, to the extent that it
establishes that the carriers providing charter runs are
prohibited from picking and carrying groups of passengers from
the territories of streets and grounds, whose limits are
established by municipal institutions, and which border with bus
stations, is not in conflict with Article 46 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 Law on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has passed
the following
ruling:
To recognise that Paragraph 4 (wording of 23 December 2005,
Official Gazette Valstybės žinios, 2005, No. 153-5643) of Article
18 of the Road Transport Code of the Republic of Lithuania, to
the extent that it establishes that the carriers providing
charter runs are prohibited from picking and carrying groups of
passengers from the territories of streets and grounds, whose
limits are established by municipal institutions, and which
border with bus stations, is not in conflict with the
Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
This ruling of the Constitutional Court is final and not
subject to appeal.
The ruling is promulgated in the name of the Republic of
Lithuania.
Justices of the Constitutional Court: Armanas Abramavičius
Toma Birmontienė
Egidijus Kūris
Kęstutis Lapinskas
Zenonas Namavičius
Ramutė Ruškytė
Vytautas Sinkevičius
Romualdas Kęstutis Urbaitis