Constitutional Court

KI36/19 Applicant: The Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals, constitutional review of Judgment E. Rev. No. 26/2017 of the Supreme Court of Kosovo of 17 January 2018

 KI36/19 Resolution on Inadmissibility, of 11 September 2019, published on 09.10.2019

Keywords: Individual referral, equality before the law, right to fair trial, judicial protection of rights, out of time referral, inadmissible referral

The Applicant alleged that the Supreme Court, by the challenged judgment violated its rights guaranteed by Articles 3 and 24 [Equality Before the Law]; 31 [Right to Fair and Impartial Trial] and 54 [Judicial Protection of Rights] of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo.

The Court, after assessing the inadmissibility criteria, held that the Referral was submitted after the legal time limit of 4 (four) months foreseen by Article 49 of the Law and Rule 39 (1) (b) of the Rules of Procedure. The Court in this case,  recalled that the rationale of the 4 (four) months legal deadline under Article 49 of the Law and Rule 39 (1) (c) of the Rules of Procedures, is to promote legal certainty by ensuring that cases raising constitutional matters are dealt within a reasonable time and to prevent the parties and other persons involved from being in a state of uncertainty for a long period of time (see, mutatis mutandis, case Sabri Güneş v. Turkey, application no. 27396/06, ECtHR Judgment of 29 June 2012, paragraph 39; and, case of the Constitutional Court no. KI140/13, Ramadan Cakiqi, Resolution on Inadmissibility of 17 March 2014, paragraph 24).