Deletion of Time Limitation on filing a Judicial Review Petition

Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2011 on Judicial Review (“Regulation”) has been issued to improve the rules and procedures for judicial review at the Supreme Court, particularly regarding deadline to file a petition for a judicial review.

Under Article 1 (1), judicial review in the Supreme Court only applies to reviews of regulations (below the level of a law) that challenge a higher regulation. However, if an individual wants to challenge the constitutionaliy of a law, the petition for judicial review has to be submitted to the Constitutional Court. Therefore, this article excludes judicial review of a law.

Pursuant to Article 2 of the Regulation, a petition for judicial review can be submitted to the Supreme Court or to the district court in the applicant’s domicile. As a comparison, previous regulations that stipulate the same provision are Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 2004 (Perma 1/2004) and Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 1993 (Perma 1/1993).

What is of interest is that the amendment made in the Regulation was that previously, Article 2 (4) of Perma 1/2004 stated that a petition for judicial review could only be submitted a maximum of 180 days after the regulation was passed by a related institution.  However, the Regulation deleted the 180 days limitation. This is  the main purpose of the Regulation, since the Supreme Court said that the 180 days limitation contradicts current legal developments, and also the living law.

Furthermore, a petition for judicial review will receive a different registration number, depending on which court the petition is submitted to. Pursuant to Article 3, a petition filled directly to the Supreme Court will be registered with the code “…P/HUM/Th…”. Meanwhile, pursuant to Article 4, if the petition is submitted to a district court, it will be registered with the code “…P/HUM/Th…/PN…”. As a comparison, under Article 1 of the Perma 1/1993, a judicial review petition, regardless where the petition is filed, will be registered under the code “TN”.

Pursuant to Article 6, if the Supreme Court determines that a petition is reasonable, where such regulation contradicts a higher regulation, the Supreme Court will grant the petition. Furthermore, the Supreme Court will order the issuing institution to revoke the regulation. If the issuing institution has not revoked the regulation, the regulation will be not legally binding 90 days after the verdict from the Supreme Court.

The verdict from the Supreme Court, pursuant to Article 9, is final and binding. Therefore, the decision cannot be appealed.

Article 10 of the Regulation states that the previous regulation still applies to petitions for judicial review that were filed in the Supreme Court before the Regulation entered into force.

The Regulation repeals and replaces Perma 1/1993, Supreme Court Regulation No. 1 of 1999, and Perma 1/2004. All of these regulations are on judicial review.

The Regulation has been in force since 30 May 2011.