|
1. The
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania is not part of the
ordinary judicial system. It has a special jurisdiction as to the
review of constitutionality of laws and other normative acts. The
Constitutional Court guarantees and upholds the compliance with
the Constitution, which it has ultimate power to interpret
(article 124/1 of the Constitution). During the exercise of its
functions, the Constitutional Court is subject only to the
Constitution (article 124/2 of the Constitution). The authorities
of the Constitutional Court have been foreseen by article 131 of
the Constitution. According to this article, this body decides on:
-
The compatibly of the
law with the Constitution or with International Agreements, as it
is foreseen in article 122;
-
The compatibility of
International Agreements with the Constitution prior to their
ratification;
-
The compatibility of
normative acts of central and local bodies with the Constitution
and International Agreements;
-
The conflicts of
competencies between the branches of power, as well as between
local and central government;
-
The constitutionality
of parties and other political organizations, as well as their
activities, according to article 9 of this Constitution;
-
The dismissal from the
duty of the President of the Republic and the verification of his
incapacity to exercise his functions;
-
Issues relating to the
election and incompatibility in exercising the function of the
President of the Republic and deputies, as well as the
verification of their election;
-
The constitutionality
of a referendum and the verification of its results;
-
The final adjudication
of the individuals’ complaints for the violation of their
constitutional rights to due process of law, after all the legal
means for the protection of these rights have been exhausted”.
2. Constitutional
Court decides even on the constitutionality of:
-
Decision of the
Assembly on the discharge from office of the President of the
Republic (articles 90/3, 91/2 of the Constitution);
-
Decision of the
Assembly on the discharge from office of the judges of the Supreme
Court (article 140 of the Constitution);
-
Decision of the
Assembly on the discharge from office of the Heads of Communes or
Municipalities (article 115 of the Constitution);
-
It gives the consent
for the criminal prosecution of the judge of the Constitutional
Court (article 126 of the Constitution) and the judge of the
Supreme Court (article 137/2 of the Constitution).
3. The
Constitutional Court may be put into motion by the following
subjects:
-
The President of the
Republic;
-
The Prime Minister;
-
One-fifth of the
deputies;
-
The Head of the High
State Audit;
-
The courts according
to article 145/2 of the Constitution;
-
Bodies of the local
government;
-
Bodies of religious
communities;
-
Political parties and
other organizations;
-
Individuals.
4. The
applications submitted before the Constitutional Court pursue the
following procedure: After being registered, the application is
assigned by the President to one of the judges, who plays the role
of the rapporteur and prepares the report and the respective
materials for the preliminary review of the case. The rapporteur
presents the case before the panel composed of three members, with
rapporteur being one of them. The panel decides on the
admissibility of the application, thus on its passing into a court
hearing. If the panel is not able to decide unanimously, the case
should be presented before the meeting of judges, which decides by
the majority of votes. The case does not pass into a court hearing
when its subject case does not fall under the authority of the
Constitutional Court, or when the applicant is not legitimated to
put the Constitutional Court into motion. The court hearings are
public and respect the principle of contradiction, as well as the
other essential principles of the ordinary judgement, and
especially of the constitutional judgement. In cases of
interpretation of the Constitution, the judgement may be carried
out basing only on the respective documentation. The parties may
be represented by their advocates. The judicial procedures are
free of charge.
5.
At the end of each judicial review, the Court expresses itself
through decision. The decisions of the Constitutional Court are
reasoned in a written form and they enter into force the day of
their publication in the Official Gazette, in spite of cases when
the Constitutional Court decides otherwise. The Constitutional
Court decisions are final and cannot be appealed. They are
compulsory for all the state administration bodies and connote be
discussed (article 132/1 of the Constitution). As a rule, the
Constitutional Court decisions do not have retroactive effects.
However, the law has foreseen exceptional circumstances: decisions
that abrogate criminal sentences, even during the phase of their
execution, decisions that interpret the Constitution, decisions
related to the non-exhausted consequences of the abrogated
normative act, and decisions related to the courts’ decisions that
have not been final. |
