Concerning the practice of changing a concept bill in the State Duma of the Russian Federation

Subject. The article is devoted to analysis of some issues concerning realization of adversary principal in proceedings in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.Purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze foreign experience of legal regulation of the status of constitutional court process participants as parties and/or interested persons in constitutional court proceeding, to give arguments in favor of introducing the category of ‘interested privies’ in Russian legislation regulating constitutional court proceedings.Methodology. The author uses theoretical analysis as well as legal methods including formal legal analysis and the method of legal comparison.Results, scope of application. Law often does not specify the party opposing the claimant during the proceedings in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The need to introduce the adversary principal in such cases requires to introduce the category of ‘interested privies’, whose rights and duties may be affected during the case solution in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.The following persons and entities may become interested privies in Constitutional proceedingst: persons whose claims brought against the decision of intergovernmental body for protecting human rights and freedoms - in cases on possibility of executing the decision of intergovernmental body for protecting human rights and freedoms; the State Duma and the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation as bodies participating in ratification of the treaty - in cases on the check of constitutional legitimacy of a treaty about accepting new subject into the Russian Federation; constitutional bodies and public offices whose constitutional legal status may be changed as a result of official interpretation of constitutional rules - in cases on interpreting the Constitution; the RF Central Election Committee - in cases on the check of constitutional legitimacy of an issue introduced for the referendum of the Russian Federation; the President of the Russian Federation (if the request comes from the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation); the State Duma, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, President of the Russian Federation - in cases on providing the ruling about the observance of the established rules public prosecution of the President of the Russian Federation for treason or another serious offence.Conclusions. The category ‘interested persons’ will enable to provide guarantee of fair trial in resolving constitutional court conflicts, if such category would be included into Russian legislation.

The 1993 Russian Constitution and 1994 Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” define the jurisdiction and activity of the Federal Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. However, these pieces of legislation do not comprehensively address all the issues, and there has been some broadening of the Court's power through interpretation and the effect of some other legislation. This article examines the Court's jurisdiction and some of the issues that arise in the exercise thereof, as well as the relative role of the constitutional or charter courts of the subjects of the Federation, and the relationship between the Constitutional Court and the other courts in the Russian federal system. Issues of the methods of constitutional interpretation are addressed. The importance of the Constitutional Court as the federal agency of constitutional court supervision (review) in ensuring the effective application of the Russian Constitution is highlighted in the context of this growth of a comparatively new branch of law in the Russian legal system.

Introduction: social security is one of the most important elements of the social policy of the state. Many legal acts are adopted in the social security field. In order to ensure the uniform understanding and interpretation of the content of the normative legal acts in the social security field, their systematization as well as the practical application in the law enforcement process the regional legislators have codified the social security legislation in a number of subjects of the Russian Federation. Using the methods of scientific knowledge, especially the method of system analysis, it is found that the complexity of the problem involves the use of both the law-making and law-realization directions and forms of the legal adaptation of the current legislation of the state. The aim of the study is to conduct a comparative analysis of the social codes adopted in the subjects of the Russian Federation, to identify common approaches in the implementation of the law-making activities for the codification of the social security legislation. The system analysis of the law-making process on the codification of the social security legislation in the subjects of the Russian Federation allowed establishing that the adopted codes had significant differences in structure and content. However, having quite significant differences, the codes have a common property – each of them has one common characteristic – a special part of all adopted social codes is built on a categorical principle. Results: on the basis of the analysis some problems of the law-making activity of the regional legislators on the codification of the social legislation are revealed. Conclusions: 1) it is necessary to adopt a number of federal laws: a codified federal law defining the goals and objectives of the social legislation of the Russian Federation and the subjects of the Russian Federation, the federal law on the sources of law, on the delimitation of powers in law-making between the Russian Federation and its subjects; 2) to establish common principles for the country’s implementation of social security; 3) to develop a single conceptual framework that provides a single legal regime for regulating relations in the social security sphere; 4) to develop a model regional social code as a model for the regional legislators.

Protection of constitutional identity in light of the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Poland – a comparative study

Currently, the process of constitutionalization of administrative law is actively underway in the Russian Federation. It involves the differentiation of administrative and administrative-procedural legislation, as well as the formation of procedures of the administrative process implemented in judicial and non-judicial forms. This, in turn, requires a clear allocation of separate administrative-procedural proceedings, including proceedings for the resolution of administrative disputes. On this basis, the fact is noted that the modern development of administrative law and process should be based on constitutional norms, which implies a significant transformation of the relationship between public authorities and private individuals, turning the latter into a full-fledged subject of administrative legal relations, creating new functions of administrative legal regulation. The research paper analyzes the existing administrative-procedural legislation regulating both non-judicial and judicial procedures for resolving administrative disputes. The specifics of individual legislative acts in this area are studied. In particular, a comparison is made between the general and special procedures for resolving out-of-court administrative disputes. The research paper analyzes the legal regulation of such procedures, the features of individual methods of legislative regulation of the out-of-court procedure for resolving administrative disputes are noted. The article also compares administrative recovery and administrative-rehabilitation administrative disputes. Judicial resolution of administrative disputes has significant specifics due to the special place of the judiciary in a state governed by the rule of law. This is expressed in the special legal consequences of a court decision, as well as in the application of administrative legal principles for more effective protection of the rights and legitimate interests of participants in legal relations. Based on the results of the study, conclusions are drawn about the fact that within the framework of administrative procedure legislation, proceedings are formed to resolve administrative disputes both out of court and in court. It also notes the shortcomings and problems of its legal regulation, suggests ways to eliminate them, which can help improve the analyzed production. The consolidation of the procedures for resolving out-of-court administrative and legal disputes should be carried out in a single legislative act, and not within the framework of separate laws and subordinate legal acts. In addition, the resolution of judicial administrative and legal disputes should also be unified within the framework of the Code of Administrative Proceedings of the Russian Federation, however, taking into account the positive elements that are currently available in the Code of Arbitration Proceedings of the Russian Federation.

The legislative protection of wildlife in the Eastern Cape is not in what one would describe as a state of orderliness. Considering merely provincial or other regional legislation, one finds that there are at least three (four, if one includes the Problem Animal Control Ordinance 26 of 1957) such pieces of legislation operating simultaneously, or in parallel, depending upon where one finds oneself in the Eastern Cape, regulating the same subject matter. In the first place there is Decree 9 of 1992 which applies to what was once the independent homeland of Transkei before Transkei once again became part of the “new” South Africa, following the constitutional developments since 1993. Decree 9 was issued by presidential decree upon the recommendation of a Military Council, following a military coup which soon replaced the “democratic” government of the Transkei. Similarly there is the Nature Conservation Act 10 of 1987 (Ciskei) which applies to what was the independent homeland of Ciskei, which also became part of South Africa following the same constitutional developments since 1993. (The Ciskei too suffered a military coup soon after attaining independence.) As for the remainder of the Eastern Cape, the subject matter is regulated by the (Cape) Nature and Environmental Conservation Ordinance 19 of 1974, a creation of the Cape Provincial Council then in existence. The Provincial Councils were ultimately abolished by the Provincial Government Act 69 of 1986, and their law-making powers were transferred to the Executive.The result of this farrago of legislation is that the status of each piece is unclear. Do they constitute original legislation or delegated legislation, or did they constitute legislative acts as opposed to executive acts? As if the matter is not complicated enough, Parliament has adopted (national) legislation which overlaps with the subject matter regulated by the aforementioned provincial or regional legislation, namely the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 in terms of which the relevant Minister adopted the Threatened or Protected Species Regulations (GNR150 / GG29657 / 20070223). A new draft set of such Regulations has been published for comment (GN255 and 256 / GG38600 / 20150331).
 In 1994 the sovereignty of Parliament gave way to the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the Constitution). The validity of legislation could now be challenged before the courts on the grounds that it was in conflict with the Constitution. In this regard section 167(5) of the Constitution provides that the Constitutional Court had to confirm an order of invalidity made by a High Court in respect of an Act of Parliament, a provincial Act or conduct of the President. In terms of section 172(2)(a), the declaration of invalidity had no force unless confirmed by the Constitutional Court.On 20 February 2010 Ms Nokhanjo Khohliso (“the Appellant”) ran afoul of the Transkei Decree 9 of 1992, having had in her possession two vulture feet in contravention of the Decree. The Appellant was a traditional healer and intended to use the feet as ingredients to a remedy designed to protect her clients against theft. For her troubles, the magistrate’s court handed her a sentence of a fine of R4000.00, or twelve months imprisonment. The Appellant appealed to the Eastern Cape High Court, Mthatha, against her conviction, essentially challenging the constitutionality of the provisions of the Decree in terms whereof she was convicted. The key question that is examined in this note is whether a declaration of such unconstitutionality is subject to confirmation by the Constitutional Court in terms of section 167(5) and 172(2)(a) of the Constitution (see above). Reduced to its essence, the issue is whether legislation of the nature of Decree 9 is subject to the abovementioned two sections.

Problem setting. An important element of the economic basis for effective resolution of tasks and functions by local self-government bodies is the income of local budgets. According to information from the official state web portal of open data in the field of public finances - Open budget, there are 1,952 local budgets in Ukraine, the revenue part of which as of October 1, 2024 is formed by 64.23% due to tax revenues in the amount of UAH 316,376,414,760.41. , including, but not exclusively, at the expense of local taxes in the form of property tax in the amount of UAH 47,473,912,844.99. or 15.1% and a single tax in the amount of UAH 62,763,592,313.79. or 19.8% of tax revenues credited to the relevant local budgets Аnalysis of recent researches and publications. Despite such insignificant indicators in the structure of tax revenues, local taxes and fees are of sufficient importance for the formation of the revenue part of local budgets, since they are, although not the main, but important source of revenues. Purpose of research is to determine the current state of the legislation regulating the administration of taxes and fees in general, and local taxes and fees, in particular, as well as to clarify the problematic issues that arise in this and prospective projects for their regulation and improvement of the legislation. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the analysis of problematic issues that arise during the administration of local taxes and fees is done in a new way. On the basis of which, conclusions were made regarding the need for legislative regulation of the relevant gaps. Аrticle’s main body. This article is devoted to the study of theoretical and practical aspects of the legal regulation of the administration of local taxes and fees and the determination of their place in the structure of local budget revenues. The norms of the current tax legislation regulating the administration of taxes and fees as a set of relevant decisions and procedures of control bodies and actions of their officials, as well as scientific research on these issues, have been analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the features of the legal regulation of the administration of local taxes and fees, as well as the problematic issues that arise in their practical application. The draft Law of Ukraine "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Legislative Acts on Improving the Administration of Property Tax", which provides for the gradual transfer of powers to administer property tax to local governments, has also been analyzed. Based on the statistical data of public financial authorities, it is substantiated that local taxes and fees have a significant impact on the formation of the revenue side of local budgets, as they are, although not the main, but an important source of revenue. It is noted that today, local governments, which are most interested in increasing revenues to local budgets at the expense of local taxes and fees, do not have legal opportunities to influence the improvement of their administration processes, since the tax legislation assigns the function of administration, including local taxes and fees, to the powers of tax authorities. At the same time, studies on the ability of local governments to ensure the full range of administrative procedures indicate the urgent need for legislative changes to grant additional powers to local governments in the administration of local taxes and fees. The judicial practice that has developed on problematic issues of the application of tax legislation regarding decisions of local councils on the establishment of rates and the procedure for calculating local taxes and fees has also been analyzed. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Proper administration of local taxes and fees is a guarantee of timely and full fulfillment by taxpayers of their constitutional duty to pay taxes to fill local budgets. The imperfection of the current legislation in this area requires legislative regulation in order to further develop the financial independence and capacity of local self-government. Currently, we have legislative initiatives, in particular, the draft Law of Ukraine "On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine and other legislative acts on improving the administration of property tax" (No. 11067 dated 08.03.2024), which is relevant and promising in the context of reforming the system of administration of local taxes and fees. obviously, their implementation will contribute to the achievement of several important goals in the field of budget and tax regulation, strengthening the financial independence of communities and the efficiency of the administration of tax payments. Despite possible challenges, the implementation of the proposed changes will contribute to the filling of local budgets, more efficient use of resources and further strengthening of local self-government in Ukraine. Based on the conducted research, it is concluded that proper administration of local taxes and fees is a guarantee of proper fulfillment by taxpayers of a particular territory of their constitutional duty to pay taxes to fill local budgets in order to further develop the financial independence and capacity of local self-government.

The article shows that when establishing the elements of crimes in the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in their interpretation and application, deviations from such constitutional norms, criteria for the lawful restriction of human rights as proportionality, equality before the law, consistency of norms, certainty, justice are sometimes allowed; the legislator and law enforcer do not always take into account the decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; the 2020 amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Federal Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” and other laws concerning the legal consequences of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which formulate new requirements for the constitutionalization of criminal law, are not taken into account. In the legal literature, these issues are either avoided or resolved not in accordance with the current version of the laws. The legal consequences of decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the conditions for their occurrence that were not noticed and not perceived by the legislator, law enforcers and researchers are given. On their basis, constitutional requirements are formulated for the legislator to abolish and amend articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation recognized by the Constitutional Court that not only do not correspond to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, but also do not advise constitutional interpretation, and are not even considered by the Constitutional Court of the articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which contain the same provisions. Requirements for the law enforcement officer not only not to apply a law recognized as inconsistent with the Constitution, not to apply the law in a different interpretation, as proposed by the Constitutional Court, but also to apply to the Constitutional Court with a request to verify compliance - non-compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation with the norm of the Criminal Code to be applied in a case containing such the same provisions that were recognized by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation as unconstitutional or subject constitutional interpretation. Some additional guarantees for the implementation of these requirements are named and justified, directions for studying the problems that have arisen.

Court-based constitutional review as a way of controlling executive and legislative action is generally considered as one of the most significant developments in post Second World War liberal constitutionalism in the world. Constitutional courts can make a significant contribution to the preservation of the rule of law, the protection of the individual's fundamental rights and the strengthening of democracy as long as they remain independent. Constitutional courts are perceived as important factors of stabilization in many countries characterized by new or fragile democratic systems. Due to their potential role in the establishment and maintenance of constitutional democracies, constitutional courts have been comprehensively studied in the area of constitutional law and politics. In this study, the Turkish Constitutional Court, as one of the oldest and most active in Europe, will be examined in a comparative perspective by considering the interpretation of the historical origins and functions of the Constitutional Courts.

Abstract: the amendments to the legislation on the judicial system adopted in 2020 provided for the liquidation of constitutional (statutory) courts. Instead, the regional legislator has the right to establish a constitutional (statutory) council at the regional parliament. However, these councils, not being bodies of judicial power, cannot become a full-fledged replacement for constitutional (statutory) courts. In addition, the regional legislators of those few subjects of the Russian Federation. in which these councils were established, began to repeat the same mistakes that led to the low effectiveness of constitutional (statutory) courts and their liquidation in the future. Without correcting these errors in determining the powers of constitutional (statutory) councils, the status of advisers and the procedure for their appointment, this institution will face the same fate as the liquidated constitutional (statutory) courts.

Turning to law enforcement practice has been and remains an important component of the activities of the Russian Constitutional Court. At the first stage of the history of the Russian judicial constitutional control — during the period of the Constitution (Basic Law) of the Russian Federation — Russia of 1978 and the RSFSR Law of July 12, 1991 No. 1599-I “On the Constitutional Court of the RSFSR” — consideration of cases on checking the constitutionality of law enforcement practice was separate authority of the Constitutional Court. In these conditions, law enforcement practice was the direct object of judicial constitutional review. With the adoption of the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 1993 and the Federal Constitutional Law of July 21, 1994 No. 1-FKZ “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”, the verification of the constitutionality of law enforcement practice was excluded from the competence of the Constitutional Court. At present, the Constitutional Court, while checking the constitutionality of legal acts, actively uses law enforcement practice as one of the means of establishing the meaning of the contested acts. The article shows that the Constitutional Court is constantly faces with the problems of defining the concept of law enforcement practice, which can receive different content in different situations. The question of the criteria under which law enforcement practice should be recognized as established is also unclear. Nevertheless, the importance of law enforcement practice for the activities of the Constitutional Court is generally increasing, which is confirmed, among other things, by the amendments made to the Federal Constitutional Law “On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation” in 2020. The conclusion is substantiated that the appeal to law enforcement practice contributes to the adoption of more motivated and balanced decisions by the Constitutional Court.

The article considers the issues of legal regulation of granting citizens the right to implement legislative initiatives and the consolidation of this right in the constitutions (charters) of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. It was founded that the federal legislator, while providing the regions with the opportunity to empower citizens with the right to legislative initiative, did not regulate the issues of determining the conditions and procedure for realizing by citizens of this right. A variety of practices of legal regulation and constitutional consolidation of this institution based on the analysis of the constitutions (charters) of the regions were identified. In particular, three forms of legislative initiative of citizens were identified - a draft law, a legislative proposal, an amendment to a bill. It is proposed to consider a legislative proposal as an independent legal institution. It has been established that granting citizens the right to amend bills is aimed at developing the democratization of lawmaking process, so it was proposed to consolidate this right in the legislation of the constituent entities of the federation. But taking into account the peculiarities of the parliamentary discussion of the bill in the second reading, it was recommended to simplify the procedure of amending bills for citizens by reducing the number of signatures of citizens supporting this initiative. It has been established that regional legislators use a blanket method of securing the norms on the right to legislative initiative of citizens in the constitutions (charters) of the regions in most of the cases. The absolute number of citizens or the percentage of the total number of citizens who have the right to vote is used in the regions to determine the number of citizens required for the implementation of a legislative initiative. It is proposed to regulate the mechanism for implementing the institution of citizens’ legislative initiative at the federal level in order to expand the opportunity for citizens to participate in legislative activities and eliminate contradictions in the regional legislation.

The article presents concepts of the Political Constitution and its reform and revision components, as well as Democratic Constitutionalism. It reflects on the political responsibility of the Constitutional Courts, addresses the legal and political crossroads regarding the nomination and election of the Constitutional Court, and concludes that the Western design seems to be correct when all the Powers intervene. Subsequently, the current role of the magistrates of the Constitutional Court in the control of the constitutionality of the acts reforming the Constitution is questioned, regarding the suspected incompetence of the Congress of the Republic to do so in what it has designated as “competition vices” and “substitution of the Constitution”. The judgments of the Court on Legislative Acts 2 of 2015 and 1 of 2016 and of the Council of State are critically addressed, in their residual competence of constitutionality control. The fast track is questioned as a mechanism for all kinds of legal and constitutional reforms incorporated in Legislative Act 01 of 2016 and approved by the Constitutional Court. Complementarily, the limits established by the Constitutional Court to implement the Peace Agreement through the ‘fast track’ in Ruling C-160 of March 9, 2017 are referred to. Finally, the work refers to the academic discussion that Constitutional Court rulings are political, but not politicized.

According to the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht), the legislature is under a constitutional obligation to enact only coherent and consistent laws. This principle of legislative consistency (Folge richtigkeit) is accorded different roles within the fundamental rights juris prudence of the Court. In the context of the constitutional guarantee of equality, an inconsistent law can be regarded as an indication for an unequal treatment and can lead to stricter standards of scrutiny. The Constitutional Court, furthermore, attributes particular significance to the principle of legislative consistency within the context of tax laws and electoral laws. A closer analysis, however, leads to the conclusion that the principle of legislative consistency does not enhance the rationality of the Constitutional Courts equal rights jurisprudence. First, there are no generally accepted and convincing standards to determine whether a law is consistent or not and whether a certain statutory rule is part of or contrary to a legislative system. Second, there is no compelling reason to assume that inconsistent laws necessary entail an unequal treatment and lead to inequality. Within the context of tax laws and electoral laws, the principle of legislative consistency is even more problematic since it disguises the appropriate standard of constitutional review, which should be equal protection and not systemic coherence. Beyond the Constitutional Courts equal rights jurisprudence, the principle of legislative consistency has gained significance in the context of constitutional liberties. In a 2008 decision, the Court held that an inconsistent legislative act can influence the proportionality analysis that oftentimes lies at the heart of a constitutional rights case: If the legislature pursues a specific goal in an inconsistent manner, this lowers its weight within the process of balancing competing interests. While this ruling of the Court has been fiercely criticized, a closer analysis reveals that the Courts approach is in line with the previous and generally accepted jurisprudence with regard to proportionality analysis. Moreover, it has to be understood as a logical consequence of the very concept of proportionality which requires balancing of competing interests. In light of this, however, the idea of legislative consistency does not have any significance as an independent doctrinal concept but rather describes the process of evaluating the competing interests that have to be balanced in the course of proportionality analysis. As a result, the principle of legislative consistency should be abandoned as a doctrinal concept of constitutional law. The German Constitution does not establish a general obligation of the legislature to enact only consistent laws. The principle of legislative consistency does not rationalize the fundamental rights discourse and is unsuitable as a standard of constitutional review. Moreover, whenever the Constitutional Court declares a legislative act to be void due to a violation of the principle of legislative consistency, the Court exposes itself to the criticism that it has overstepped its boundaries and illegitimately encroached upon the competences of the legislative branch.

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