Pursuant to Article 17 of the Constitutional Court Law, in accordance with the jurisdiction established by law, the right to submit an application to the Constitutional Court is held by:
the President;
the Saeima;
not less than twenty members of the Saeima;
the Cabinet;
the Prosecutor General;
the Council of the State Audit Office;
a local government council;
the Ombudsman;
a court;
a person;
the Judicial Council.
Any person who considers that their fundamental rights, defined in the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, have been infringed by a law or another regulatory enactment, may submit a constitutional complaint to the Constitutional Court*.
Upon submitting a constitutional complaint, it should be taken into account that it is the ultimate remedy for defending fundamental rights. Before turning to the Constitutional Court, a person must try to defend their fundamental rights by using general legal remedies. For example, if an institution has infringed upon a person’s rights, first of all, a complaint must be submitted to a higher standing institution. If its decision is unsatisfactory it is possible to turn to a court of first instance (a district or municipal court), the ruling of which may be appealed against before an appellate instance court (a regional court). Usually, the ruling of this court may be appalled against before the cassation instance court (the Supreme Court). If the Supreme Court’s ruling is not satisfactory either and the problem stems from the incompatibility of a law with the Constitution a person may turn to the Constitutional Court.
Court rulings, i.e., either judgement or decisions, cannot be appealed against before the Constitutional Court. Namely, the Constitutional Court does not decide whether a particular civil, criminal or administrative case had been adjudicated correctly. In difference to other courts, the Constitutional Court is “a court of laws”. This means that the Constitutional Court examines whether a law is not contrary to the fundamental rights, established in the Constitution. For example, if the Supreme Court has substantiated its ruling by a legal provision, which a person considers to be incompatible with the Constitution, a person may request the Constitutional Court to recognise the said provision as being void. If the Constitutional Court recognises the provision as being void the person will be able to submit an application to the Supreme Court, requesting that the case is heard anew.
A constitutional complaint must be submitted to the Constitutional Court within six months after the ruling by the last institution (for example, the Supreme Court) has entered into effect. If it is impossible to defend fundamental rights by general legal remedies then the constitutional complaint may be submitted within six months from the date when the infringement on fundamental rights occurred.
A complaint to the Constitutional Court must be submitted in writing. It should include information about the person submitting the complaint, the institution that issued the contested provision, statement of the facts of the case, legal reasoning for the complaint, as well as a claim to the Constitutional Court.
The legal reasoning should include arguments proving that the contested provision infringes upon the fundamental rights of the person submitting the complaint. The fact that all general legal remedies have been exhausted or that such do not exist must be substantiated. If the legal reasoning is evidently insufficient for satisfying the claim the Constitutional Court may refuse initiation of a case.
A constitutional complaint may be submitted to the Chancery of the Constitutional Court at 1 Jura Alunāna Street, Riga, LV-1010, by forwarding it by post to the aforementioned address or to the address of the Court’s electronic mail tiesa@satv.tiesa.gov.lv or the Court’s E-address. The phone of the Constitutional Court’s Chancery is +371 67210274.
At the same time, it should be taken into consideration that the Constitutional Court does not provide consultations on how to draft a constitutional complaint and its legal reasoning.
We encourage you to study the informative material prepared by the Constitutional Court “Recommendations for preparing a constitutional complaint”.
* A person’s fundamental rights have been defined in Chapter 8 of the Constitution. These are, among others, the right to life, the right to freedom and inviolability of a person, the right to freedom of speech, the right to form public associations, the right to submit applications to State and local government institutions and to receive responses on the merits of the application, the right to property, the right to social security in old age, for work disability and for unemployment, etc.