Constitutional Court

KI145/17, Applicant: Sh. A. “Elektromotori”, Constitutional review of Judgment E. Rev. No. 40/2016 of the Supreme Court of Kosovo, of 5 January 2017

KI45/17, Decision on inadmissibility of 22 February 2018, published on 11 April 2018.

Key words: Individual referral, business registration, damage compensation, referral filed out of time

The Applicant filed a claim with the Commercial District Court in Prishtina against the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Republic of Kosovo (“MTI”), seeking compensation for material damage and lost profit resulting from the failure of MTI to register its business from 2003 to 2008. The Basic Court in Prishtina – Department for Commercial Matters rendered Judgment C. No. 80/2011, whereby it rejected the Applicant’s  claim filed against MTI as ungrounded. This judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeals. The Applicant submitted a revision to the Supreme Court against the Judgment (Ae. No. 123/2013) of the Court of Appeals. By its Judgment E. Rev. No. 40/2016, the Supreme Court rejected the Applicant’s revision as ungrounded.

The Applicant alleged that the Supreme Court had violated his rights guaranteed by Articles 46 [Protection of Property], 58 [Responsibilities of the State], and 119 [Economic Relations – General Principles] of the Constitution. The Court noted that the Applicant had been served with the challenged Judgment of the Supreme Court on 14 February 2017, and had submitted his referral to the Constitutional Court on 8 December 2017. Therefore, the Constitutional Court found, in line with Article 113.7 of the Constitution, Article 49 of the Law and abiding by Rule 36 (1) (c) of the Rules of Procedure, that the Applicant had submitted his referral concerning the Judgment of the Appellate Panel (AC-II-12-0006) after the expiry of the time limit of 4 (four) months, and as such, his referral did not fulfill the admissibility requirements to be considered by the Court.