Constitutional Law of The Republic of Armenia on The Constitutional Court-2018

1. According to Article 167(1) of the Constitution, constitutional justice shall be administered by the Constitutional Court, ensuring the supremacy of the Constitution.

2. According to Article 167 (2) of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court is independent in administering justice, and is subordinate only to the Constitution.

 

1. The sessions of the Constitutional Court shall be held in the city of Yerevan, in the residence of the Constitutional Court.

2. The Constitutional Court may, if necessary, hold its sittings in another place of the Republic of Armenia – by procedural decision.

3. The Government shall provide the Constitutional Court with a separate building and the necessary property to ensure its proper functioning.

4. The safety of buildings and structures occupied by the Constitutional Court shall be ensured in the manner prescribed by law.

5. In addition to judges and employees of the Office of the Constitutional Court, other persons may enter the building of the Constitutional Court in the manner established by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The expenses of the Constitutional Court shall form a part of the expenses of the State budget and shall ensure the normal functioning of the Constitutional Court.

2. The drafting of the budget financing request (draft estimate of expenditures) for the forthcoming year shall be coordinated by the President of the Constitutional Court.

3. The staff of the Constitutional Court in the manner prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On the Budget System of the Republic of Armenia” annually draws up and submits to the Government an application for budget financing of the Constitutional Court in the forthcoming year (hereinafter – the budget application) for inclusion in the draft state budget for the forthcoming year.

4. If adopted by the Government, the budget application is included in the draft state budget intact, or in case of objections, in an amended version. The government submits a budget application to the National Assembly along with the draft state budget. The Government also submits the rationale for its changes in relation to the budget application to the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court.

5. In order to ensure the normal functioning of the Constitutional Court to finance its unforeseen expenses, as well as to encourage the judges of the Constitutional Court and the employees of the Constitutional Court, a reserve fund of the Constitutional Court is provided, which is presented as a separate budget line. The size of the reserve fund is equal to two percent of the budget provided for the Constitutional Court by the law on the state budget for a given year.

6. The budgetary funds of the Constitutional Court are administered by the President of the Constitutional Court in the manner prescribed by law. If necessary, the President of the Constitutional Court in accordance with the procedure established by the Government may make internal redistribution between the articles of economic classification of budget expenditures in the part of each program implemented by the Constitutional Court, not exceeding the quota of 15 percent of the total appropriations established by the law on the state budget.

7. The Constitutional Court shall independently dispose of its resources in the manner prescribed by law and its Rules of Procedure.

8. In case of shortage of funds of the reserve fund for the proper functioning of the Constitutional Court, the Government shall, on the basis of the application of the President of the Constitutional Court, fill in the deficit from the reserve fund of the Government.

 

1. A citizen of the Republic of Armenia of forty years of age, with the right to suffrage, with high professional and moral qualifications and with at least fifteen years of professional experience as a lawyer, proficient in Armenian with higher education may be elected as a Judge of the Constitutional Court.

2. The same person may be elected as a judge of the Constitutional Court only once.

3. The judge of the Constitutional Court may not hold a position not determined his/her status in state or local self-government bodies, any position in commercial organizations, be engaged in entrepreneurial activity, perform other paid work, other than scientific, educational, and creative work.

4. The regulations of the law on entrepreneurship of the public servant shall apply to a judge of the Constitutional Court.

5. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall not be a member or founder of any party, hold a position in the party, speak on behalf of the party, or otherwise be engaged in political activity. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall display political restraint and neutrality in public speeches and in any other circumstance.

6. The judge of the Constitutional Court may participate only in the elections to the National Assembly and the local self-government bodies as a voter. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall not publicly speak out for or against a candidate or otherwise participate in pre-election campaigning.

7. Professional discussions or conclusions on draft legal acts, discussions and statements on the activities of the judiciary, including public, are not considered a violation of the principle of depoliticization.

8. The judge may hold a position in a non-profit organization if:

1) s/he performs her or his activity in that position for free, and;

2) that position does not imply the administration of funds, conclusion of civil-legal transactions on behalf of the organization, or the representation of the organization in state or local government bodies.

9. The judge’s payment for scientific, educational or creative work may not exceed a reasonable amount, that is, the amount which a person of similar qualifications, but who is not a judge, could claim.

10. A judge may receive renumeration for activities performed in accordance with the rules of Part 9 of this Article, if such renumeration cannot be reasonably perceived as intended to influence the judge in the performance of his / her official duties.

11. A judge may not act as a testator or trustee of a property unless s/he acts in a gratuitous manner with respect to her/his close relative or the property of a person under her/his custody or guardianship.

12. For the purposes of this Law, a close relative of a judge are the parent of a judge or her/his spouse or, the child, the spouse of a child, the brother, the stepbrother, the sister, the stepsister, the grandfather, the grandmother, the grandchild, the great-grandchild, as well as the spouse of a brother or sister, the adopter or the adopted.

13. The circumstance of proficiency in the Armenian language is certified by the outcome document issued by the educational institution (certificate, brevet, diploma on the completion of the study in Armenian at educational institutions or about completing the course of study envisaged by educational programs on the subject “Armenian language” and final certification. In the absence of an outcome document certifying the fact of knowledge of the Armenian language, the command of knowledge of the Armenian language is checked in the manner established by the Minister for Development and Implementation of the Government Policy in Education and Science, which should provide reasonable, objective criteria for verifying the knowledge of the Armenian language, as well as the procedure of control.

 

1. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall assume office by taking the following oath at the sitting of the National Assembly; “Assuming the office of a judge of the Constitutional Court, I hereby swear in front of the people of the Republic of Armenia to act in the interests of the Republic of Armenia, unswervingly abide by the Constitution, act in good faith, be impartial, and remain faithful to the distinguished title of a judge of the Constitutional Court”.

2. The newly elected judge of the Constitutional Court shall assume office forthwith after taking the oath referred to in part 1 of this Article, and if elected within six months prior to the expiry of the powers of the Constitutional Court or six months prior to the expiry of his / her term of office, on the day of termination of powers of the relevant judge of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The judge of the Constitutional Court and members of his family are under the special protection of the state. In case of improper interference with or threatening of the Constitutional Court judge, his / her family members, their living and working areas, or other immunity, the judge shall notify the competent state bodies and the Constitutional Court. The competent state authorities shall immediately take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the judge, his/her family and the occupied living and working spaces and other property, and inform the President of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. When administering justice, the judge shall be independent of state and local self-government bodies, officials, natural and legal persons, shall not be accountable to anyone, as well as not obliged to give any explanation.

2. A judge of the Constitutional Court may not seek instructions with respect to his /her functions.

3. Any influence on a judge of the Constitutional Court with respect to his/her functions shall be impermissible and shall be prosecuted by law.

4. A judge of the Constitutional Court shall immediately notify the President of the Constitutional Court of each case of interference with the functions of the judge of the Constitutional Court or any other influence on him or her and the latter shall submit a request to the competent state bodies for taking necessary measures.

5. During his/her term in office and after the automatic termination or termination of his/her powers, the judge of the Constitutional Court shall not be questioned as a witness in a case in which s/he has exercised his/her powers as a judge.

 

1. A judge of the Constitutional Court shall be irremovable.

 

1. In accordance with Article 164 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, a judge of the Constitutional Court may not be held liable for the opinion expressed or judicial act adopted during administration of justice, except where there are elements of crime or disciplinary violation present.

2. In accordance with Article 164 (3) of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, criminal prosecution of a judge of the Constitutional Court with respect to the exercise of his/her powers may be initiated only upon the consent of the Constitutional Court.

3. A judge of the Constitutional Court may not be deprived of liberty, in connection with the exercise of his/her powers, without the consent of the Constitutional Court, except where s/he has been arrested at the moment of a criminal offence or immediately thereafter.

4. In addition to the right prescribed in Article 27(3) of the Constitution, upon deprivation of liberty, a judge of the Constitutional Court shall have the right to inform immediately the President of the Constitutional Court or another judge by telephone or other means of communication.

5. In the cases prescribed by this part, the deprivation of liberty may not last more than seventy-two hours. The President of the Constitutional Court and the Prosecutor General shall be immediately notified of the deprivation of liberty of a judge of the Constitutional Court. The decision to detain the judge of the Constitutional Court shall be immediately forwarded to the President of the Constitutional Court and the Prosecutor General. Bodies and officials that deprived the judge of his/her liberty are required to ensure unhindered access of the President and other judges of the Constitutional Court to the place of detention of a judge deprived of the liberty and to ensure access to the judge

6. The initiation of criminal proceedings against a judge of the Constitutional Court and the prosecutorial oversight of pre-proceeding criminal proceedings in this case shall be carried out by the Prosecutor General or, on his/her instructions, by the deputy.

7. Actions in relation to a judge in criminal proceedings are carried out with the highest possible confidentiality of pre-proceeding proceedings, respect for the authority and independence of the judge and the judiciary, excluding any direct or indirect interference with the judge.

8. Access to the building of the Court for the purpose of conducting investigative actions in the building of the Constitutional Court is carried out with the notification of the President of the Constitutional Court.

9. Investigative actions involving a judge who is not under criminal prosecution may be carried out upon notification of the President of the Constitutional Court.

10. Investigative actions carried out without the permission of the court, with the participation of a judge who is not under criminal prosecution, are carried out at the time and place that have been previously agreed with the judge, with the highest possible confidentiality of the investigative action, respect for the authority and independence of the judge, with the exception of any direct or indirect interference with the judge’s activities.

 

1. In accordance with Part 10 of Article 164 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the remuneration of a judge shall be determined in compliance with his/her high status and responsibility. The amount of remuneration of a judge shall be prescribed by law. Issues related to the remuneration, including the calculation and amount of the basic and supplementary wages of the President, Vice-President and judges of the Constitutional Court are regulated by law.

2. If the term of office of a judge of the Constitutional Court is terminated on the grounds prescribed in Clause 1 of Part 1 of Article 12 of this Law, a pension shall be granted to the former judge regardless of his/her age in the manner and amount prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Support, Service and Social Guarantees of the Activity of the Officials. The right of a judge of the Constitutional Court to the pension shall not be terminated in the case of other employment, except for the public service employment.

3. A person, who holds the position of a judge of the Constitutional Court, in the event of the suspension or termination of his/her powers on the grounds prescribed in Clause 2 of part 1 and clause 4 of part 2 of article 12 of this Law, as well as if he/she is declared to be legally incapable by a court that has entered into force, a pension is assigned in the manner and amount established by the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Support, Service and Social Guarantees of the Activity of the Officials.

4. The remuneration and the supplementary wages established thereto, as well as the pension of a judge of the Constitutional Court shall not be reduced, unless a proportional reduction is implemented for all high-ranking officials.

5. The judge enjoys the right to health and accident insurance in the terms and to the extent prescribed by the Government.

6. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall be granted a diplomatic passport.

7. Judges of the Constitutional Court are authorized to have annual regular paid leave for 30 working days.

8. The President of the Constitutional Court may provide the judge with unpaid leave based on his/her personal or family circumstances for a total duration of up to 20 working days annually and for a longer period with the consent of the Constitutional Court. To defend a scientific dissertation, the judge of the Constitutional Court has the right to unpaid leave of up to 30 working days.

9. The judge of the Constitutional Court enjoys the social guarantees prescribed for a public servant.

10. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall be exempted from mobilization and training fees for the entire period of the exercise of his/her powers.

 

1. During the court sessions, the judges of the Constitutional Court shall wear special robes which shall be established in the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court shall terminate if:

1) his/her term of office has expired;

2) s/he has reached the age of tenure;

3) s/he has deceased;

4) s/he has lost the citizenship of the Republic of Armenia or has acquired the citizenship of another state;

5) s/he resigned in the manner prescribed by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”;

6) s/he he was declared legally incompetent, missing or dead by a court decision that entered into legal force;

7) the verdict passed against him/her has entered into legal force or his/her criminal prosecution has been terminated on an unjustified basis.

2. The powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court shall be terminated in the manner prescribed by Article 83 of this Law, if s/he:

1) violated incompatibility requirements established by the Constitution and this Law;

2) was engaged in political activities during his/her tenure;

3) was unable to exercise the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court for six months continuously due to temporary disability, with the exception of cases of pregnancy and maternity leave;

4) following the appointment, s/he has been affected by a physical impairment or an illness as a result of which s/he is unable to exercise his/her powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court;

5) s/he has committed a major disciplinary violation.

3. A significant disciplinary violation is:

1) the absence of a judge of the Constitutional Court at meetings of the Constitutional Court three times or more during the year without a good reason;

2) a judge of the Constitutional Court, having two reprimands or one severe reprimand, re-disciplinary violation;

3) intentional or grossly negligent violation of the rules of conduct prescribed in Clauses 1-4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15 and 16 of Part 1 of Article 14 of this Law, is incompatible with the status of a judge due to the circumstances of the execution and/or the consequences.

3.1. In accordance with this article, the act is considered grossly negligent if the judge has not realized the unlawful nature of his/her conduct, although in the given situation he/she obviously could and should have done so.

3.2. In accordance with this Article, the act is considered intentional if the judge has realized the unlawful nature of his/her conduct.

4. A judge of the Constitutional Court, upon submitting a letter of resignation to the National Assembly in the case established by clause 5 of part 1 of this article, shall immediately inform the President of the Constitutional Court.

5. In case of termination of the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court on the grounds prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of Part 1 of this Article, on the last day of the seventh month preceding the termination of his/her powers, and on the grounds prescribed in Clauses 3–7 of Part 1 of this Article, not later than one day after the termination of the powers of a judge,as well as on the grounds prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, the President of the Constitutional Court shall inform the President of the Republic, the President of the Cassation Court or the Government accordingly taking into account the regulations prescribed in Part 2 of Article 17 of this Law.

 

1. The violation of the Code of Conduct for a judge of the Constitutional Court prescribed by this Law constitutes grounds for imposing a judge to the Constitutional Court to disciplinary liability.

2. The Constitutional Court shall bring the judge of the Constitutional Court to disciplinary liability in the manner prescribed by Section 82 of this Law.

3. Proceedings for starting a disciplinary act against a judge of the Constitutional Court may be initiated due to misconduct of a judge of the rules envisaged by this Law within three months after it is revealed, but not later than one year, except for the violations prescribed in Clauses 14 and 15 of Part 1 of Article 14 this Law. Disciplinary proceedings may be initiated due to misconduct of the judge prescribed in Clauses 14 and 15 of Part 1 of Article 14 this Law, within one year, but not later than three years.

4. Bringing a judge of the Constitutional Court to administrative, civil or other statutory liability does not exclude the possibility of bringing him/her to disciplinary liability and termination of his/her powers and vice versa.

 

1. When exercising any activity and in any circumstances, a judge of the Constitutional Court shall:

1) refrain from the behavior that discredits the judiciary, as well as undermines public confidence in the independence and impartiality of the judiciary,

2) undermine the creditability of his/her position as a judge or not allow other persons to abuse it in his/her own interest or the third parties,

3) demonstrate political restraint and neutrality,

4) refrain from interfering with the administration of justice of another judge,

5) refrain from expressing doubts about the professional and personal qualities of a judge in public,

6) refrain from undermining the court actions, judicial acts in public, except the cases of professional activity provided by law or carried out within the framework of academic freedom,

7) refrain from expressing an opinion in public with respect to the case that is considered or will be considered, only if when the judge acts in the case as a party or legal representative of the party,

8) refrain from statements or behavior that jeopardize or undermine the independence and impartiality of a judge or a court,

9) inform the Constitutional Court forthwith on the interference in the administration of justice and other powers provided by law as a court, as well as the exercise of the rights empowered by the status of a judge,

10) refrain from acting as a representative or not provide consultation, as well as gratis, except in the cases when he/she acts as a legal representative or provides free legal consultation to his/her close relatives or persons under his/her guardianship or trusteeship;

11) refrain from accepting a gift or any property related advantage or resolve to accept the latter subsequently, if it may be reasonably perceived as an attempt to influence a judge, follow the rules prescribed by this Law relating the gift restriction;

12) not initiate, not permit and not take into account any communications with the third party or his/her representative without the participation of the counter party or his/her representative (“ex parte”, hereinafter referred to as unprejudiced); and, in the event of unprejudiced contacts regardless the will of the judge, and at the earliest possibility report the content to the party that did not participate in those communications, providing them with the possibility to react. Exceptions to this rule are allowed only in the following cases:

a. when under certain circumstances, unprejudiced communications are necessary for organizational purposes, such as agreeing on the date and time of the hearing or other cases of organization of the trial, and provided that the communications do not concern the merits of the case, as a result one of the litigants does not achieve judicial or other advantage over the third party, and the judge shall, at the earliest possibility, report on the content to the other party, providing them with the possibility to react,

b. when implementation of one way communication of a judge is expressly provided by law,

13) not initiate and not allow consultation with the judge with respect to whom the Constitutional Court has decided on the impossibility of participating in the examination of the case,

14) when applying for the consultation on the issues regarding the applicable law to a specialist not interested in the outcome of the case (except for another judge, as well as the employees of the Office of the Court whose function is to assist the judge in administering justice), to inform the parties about the identity of that specialist, the opinion received on the submitted case, and to enable them to present their position in that regard.

15) submit a declaration of property, income, interest and expenses statement in accordance with the Law on Public Service and observing the requirements prescribed by that Law,

16) in the cases and in the manner prescribed by the Law on the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, submit inputs or clarifications to the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, which confirm that the movement of his/her property (increase in property and/or decrease of liabilities or expenditure) is reasonably justified by the legal income, or that he/she does not possess undeclared or incompletely declared property, or the source of income is legal and credible”.

2. The responsibilities of a judge related to the administration of justice and other powers provided by law as a court are paramount over other activities. When acting ex officio, the judge shall:

1) examine and resolve the issues within his/her competence, except for the cases prescribed in Article 16 of this Law,

2) be independent when making a decision,

3) be impartial and refrain from demonstrating bias or discriminative approach in his/her speech or conduct, or from leaving such an impression on a reasonable and impartial observer,

4) show respect and courtesy towards the participants in the proceeding, judges, employees of the Court and all the persons with whom the judge communicates ex officio;

5) not allow any conflict of interest and exclude any impact on the exercise of his/her official duties made by the relatives, social or other relations;

6) not use and publish for other purposes or disclose the confidential information entrusted to him/her during the performance of his/her official duties, in addition to the exercise of justice and other powers provided by law as a court, unless otherwise provided by law,

7) not interfere with the operation of the court recording system.

8) refrain from taking actions that may, within reason, establish grounds for self recusal,

9) in case of presence of such grounds prescribed by Article 16 of this Law, disclose those grounds,

10) comply with the requirements of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia on the Constitutional Court,

11) conduct court hearings in the outfit prescribed by law.

 

1. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall not accept or agree to accept a gift. The judge should strive to keep close relatives residing with him/her from such acts.

2. In the sense of this Law, the term “gift” implies any property benefit that would not be reasonably provided to a person who is not a judge with a reasonable approach,, and also includes a pardoned claim, assignment of the claim free of charge or at an obviously unequally low price, property sold at a clearly unequal low price, the service adopted or work performed at a clearly unequal low price, as well as a soft loan, gratuitous use of another’s property and other actions, as a result of which the person received a favor or benefit.

3. The restrictions prescribed in this Article shall not apply to:

1) a gift from a close relative residing with a judge in connection with his/her business, professional or other activity, including a gift that may be shared by other family members, including the judge, but provided that such a gift may not be reasonably perceived as having been presented in connection with the performance of official duties of a judge;

2) a scholarship, grant or allowance awarded as a result of a public competition in the terms and criteria applied to other applicants, or as a result of a transparent process;

3) loans received from financial institutions in ordinary or general terms.

4. The following are eligible gifts for a judge:

1) gifts usually presented at public events;

2) gifts presented during the domestic hospitality, if they are in their nature consistent with the gifts normally presented during domestic hospitality;

3) gifts received from a close relative;

4) gifts received from a relative, if the gift is substantially and to the extent reasonably consistent with the nature of the relationship between them.

5. If a judge has received a gift that is not permissible under this Article, s/he shall be obliged to return it or pay an equivalent compensation within one week of receiving the gift. If it is not possible to return the gift or pay adequate compensation within the prescribed period, it shall be obliged to deliver it within one week after receiving the gift to the Republic of Armenia in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Government.

 

1. The participation of a judge of the Constitutional Court in the consideration of a case is impossible when:

1) s/he is biased towards a person acting as a party , his/her representative or other participants in the proceedings;

2) as a private entity, s/he witnessed the circumstances that are challenged during the proceeding;

3) s/he has participated in the proceeding of the given case in another court;

4) a judge’s close relative has been, is or will reasonably be (the judge has the reason to believe that s/he will be) a party to the case;

5) s/he knows or should reasonably know that s/he or his/her close relative has an economic interest in the substance of the dispute or one of the parties;

6) s/he holds a position in a non-profit organization and the interests of that organization may be affected by the case.

2. In the sense of this Article, the term economic interest does not include:

1) managing shares of an open joint stock company through an investment or pension fund or other nominal owner, if the judge does not know about it;

2) depositing in a bank, having insurance policy with an insurance company, being a member of a credit or savings union, if the outcome of the case does not pose a significant risk to the solvency of that organization;

3) possessing securities issued by the Republic of Armenia, the community or the Central Bank.

3. Each of the judges of the Constitutional Court may raise the issue of the impossibility of a judge of the Constitutional Court to take part in the consideration of the case.

4. The issue of inadmissibility of the participation of a judge of the Constitutional Court in the consideration of a case by the Constitutional Court shall be resolved within the framework of a procedural decision on initiating the proceeding.

5. The procedural decision of the Constitutional Court on this issue is adopted by not less than two-thirds votes of judges of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. In case of termination or suspension of the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court, for filling the vacancy an election of a new judge shall be held:

1) in case of the termination of the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court, in the past six months following the day of notification of the termination of his/her powers by the President of the Constitutional Court on the grounds prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Article 12 of this Law;

2) in case of termination of the powers of the judge of the Constitutional Court on the grounds prescribed in Clauses 3-7 of Part 1 of Article 12 of this Law, as well as termination of powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court on the grounds prescribed in Part 2 of Article 12, or in case of a new judge of the Constitutional Court not elected, within one month after the nomination of candidates for the vacant position of a judge of the Constitutional Court.

2. The Government, the President of the Republic, and the General Assembly of Judges shall submit the nominations of candidates for the vacant position of a judge of the Constitutional Court not later than one month after notification in accordance with Part 5 of Article 12 of this Law on the termination or suspension of the power of a judge of the Constitutional Court. The body authorized to nominate the candidates successively in accordance with this part does not nominate a candidate for the vacant position of a judge of the Constitutional Court, if the number of incumbent judges of the Constitutional Court at the moment of the notification prescribed in Part 5 of Article 12 of this Law to the relevant body equals to three, in accordance with Part 1 of Article 166 of the Constitution. In this case, a candidate for the vacant position of a judge of the Constitutional Court shall be nominated by the body authorized to nominate a candidate in the order prescribed in this Part, when the mentioned restrictions are not prescribed in the second sentence of this Part.

3. The new judge of the Constitutional Court shall be elected in accordance with Part 1 of Article 166 of the Constitution and Article 141 of the constitutional law of the Republic of Armenia Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly.

4. If a new judge of the Constitutional Court is not elected, then over one-month period after the voting, the competent body shall nominate a new candidate for the position of a judge of the Constitutional Court.

5. (This part is of no effect by HO-376-N of 30.06.20)

1. The normal functioning of the Constitutional Court shall be ensured by the President of the Constitutional Court.

2. In the absence of the President of the Constitutional Court, the powers of the President of the Constitutional Court shall be temporarily exercised by the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court.

3. In the absence of the President of the Constitutional Court and the Vice-President, the powers of the President of the Constitutional Court shall be temporarily exercised by the Senior Judge of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. A candidate nominated by judges of the Constitutional Court from the Constitutional Court or by self-nomination, who has received two-thirds of the votes of judges of the Constitutional Court, may be elected as the President, and in the case when one candidate is nominated, s/he shall be elected by a majority of the total number of judges of the Constitutional Court.

2. If none of the two or more nominated candidates by the results of the vote receives the required number of votes, then a second round of elections shall be held within five days, where two candidates who receive the majority of votes in the first round shall participate. The candidate who receives the majority of votes of judges of the Constitutional Court shall be considered elected after the second round of elections.

3. In case of not receiving the required number of votes, the election shall be considered as failed and a new election shall be conducted.

4. The election of the President of the Constitutional Court shall be held within ten days following the opening of the vacant position of the President.

5. The President of the Constitutional Court shall be elected for a term of six years without the possibility of being re-elected.

6. The President of the Constitutional Court shall:

1) together with the rapporteur of the case, arrange the sessions of the Constitutional Court;

2) assign tasks to the judges of the Constitutional Court for the purpose of arranging discussions of issues at the sessions of the Constitutional Court;

3) convene and chair the sessions of the Constitutional Court;

4) make remarks with regard to the observance of the rules of consideration of cases in the Constitutional Court, make demands of the participants in the proceedings, the invited persons, those present at the session, which shall be mandatory;

5) represent the Constitutional Court in relations with other bodies and organizations;

6) carry out the general management of the Staff of the Constitutional Court, approve the structure of the Stuff and the Staff list. Deputy Chairperson of the Constitutional Court

1. From among the judges of the Constitutional Court, the candidate nominated by the judges of the Constitutional Court or the self-nominated candidate who has received the majority vote of all the judges of the Constitutional Court may be elected as the Deputy Chairperson.

2. The Deputy Chairperson of the Constitutional Court shall be elected within ten days following the opening of the vacant position.

3. The Chairperson of the Constitutional Court shall be elected for a term of six years without the possibility of being re-elected.

4. In the absence of the Chairperson of the Constitutional Court, the Deputy Chairperson of the Constitutional Court shall exercise the powers of the Chairperson of the Constitutional Court provided by Article 17 of this Law.

 

1. From among the judges of the Constitutional Court, the candidate nominated by the judges of the Constitutional Court or the self-nominated candidate who has received the majority vote of all the judges of the Constitutional Court may be elected as the Vice-President.

2. The Vice-President of the Constitutional Court shall be elected within ten days following the opening of the vacant position of the Vice-President.

3. The Vice-President of the Constitutional Court shall be elected for a term of six years without the possibility of being re-elected.

4. Provisions of Article 19 of this Law shall apply to the election of the Vice-President of the Constitutional Court, unless otherwise prescribed by this Article.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall form its own Staff independently, in the manner prescribed by law and its Rules.

2. The apparatus of the Constitutional Court provides the necessary consultative, organizational, informational, technical and other conditions for exercising the powers of the Constitutional Court and organizes the reception of citizens in the Constitutional Court.

3. Due to the characteristics of the certain positions in the Office of the Constitutional Court, the positions shall be filled in the manner prescribed in the Law on Civil Service and the Law on Public Service.

4. The Chief of Staff of the Constitutional Court is appointed and dismissed by the President of the Constitutional Court.The post of the Chief of Staff of the Constitutional Court is a public administration position.

5. The statute of the Office of the Constitutional Court is established by a procedural decision of the Constitutional Court.

1. The Constitutional Court considers a case only if there is a corresponding appeal.

 

1. The bodies and persons referred to in Article 169 of the Constitution may apply to the Constitutional Court in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Constitution and this Law.

2. In the case referred to in clause 8 of part 1 of Article 169 of the Constitution, legal entities may also apply to the Constitutional Court in accordance with Article 74 of the Constitution.

 

1. The application shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court in writing and signed by the competent person. The application shall be submitted in paper or in electronic form

2. The following shall be indicated in the application:

1) the name of the Constitutional Court;

2) the name of the applicant (in case of legal entities – the title), registered address (in case of legal entities – the location) or residential address thereof if the latter address is different from the registered address; and where the applicant is acting through a representative – the name, registered address or the residential address of the applicant’s representative if the latter address is different from the registered address;

3) the Article of the Constitution which provides for the right to apply to the Constitutional Court;

4) the request addressed to the Constitutional Court and the arguments of the applicant with references to the relevant norms of the Constitution;

5) in the cases referred to in clauses 1 and 5 of Article 168 of the Constitution, the name of the state or local self-government body or the official having adopted the act being challenged;

6) the list of materials attached to the application.

3. In the cases referred to in Articles 68, 75 and 79 of this Law, applications submitted by at least one fifth of the total number of Deputies shall comply with the general requirements for submitting an application, as well as contain the required number of signatures.

 

1. The following shall be attached to the application submitted to the Constitutional Court:

1) the power of attorney or any other document certifying the powers of the representative;

2) the Armenian translation of all documents in a foreign language certified as prescribed by law;

3) in the cases provided by this Law, the evidence supporting the validity of the application;

4) other materials related to the Case at the discretion of the applicant.

2. With regard to the cases referred to in Article 69 of this Law, the applicant shall also be obliged to submit to the Constitutional Court the following:

1) the receipt of payment of the state duty in the amount prescribed by law or a motion for exemption from paying the state duty,

2) the final judicial act of a court of general jurisdiction or a specialized court by which the provision of the law was applied to the applicant and challenged by him/her;

3) the copy of the identification document of the applicant;

4) the state registration number of the legal entity or the state recording number of the individual entrepreneur;

5) the copy of the identification document of the advocate acting as a representative, as well as the copy of the document certifying the status of the advocate;

6) the copy of the identification document of the person with higher legal education, acting as a representative, as well as the copy of higher legal education certificate.

3. After the application has been accepted, the applicant party may submit new materials only upon the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. An application submitted to the Constitutional Court shall be subject to compulsory registration. The registered application is submitted to the President of the Constitutional Court. The peculiarities related to the registration, distribution and deliberation of applications that are not submitted to the Constitutional Court shall be determined by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

2. The procedure for accepting applications submitted in accordance with clause 8 of part 1 of Article 169 of the Constitution shall be determined by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

3. If the application does not meet the requirements of Articles 24 and 25 of this Law, the applicant shall, within three days, and in the cases prescribed in clause 5 of Article 168 of the Constitution, as well as Articles 81, 84 and 86 of this Law, the Staff of the Constitutional Court shall, within 24 hours, inform of this by specifying the requirements of Articles 24 and 25 of this Law which the applicant must comply with.

4. After being informed in accordance with the procedure prescribed in part 3 of this Article, the applicant may re-submit to the Constitutional Court within a period of three days after complying with the requirements of Articles 24 and 25 of this Law, and within one day in the cases provided for in Articles 81, 84 and 86 of this Law. If the application is not complied with the requirements of Articles 24 and 25 of this Law within the specified period of time, the application shall be returned to the applicant within one day, with an appropriate note on the procedure for appeal.

5. The applicant can ensure compliance with the requirements of the law by presenting the edited text of the application or, if technically possible, correcting the deficiencies of the application in the application registration section. If the application contains such arithmetical, technical or formal errors and misprints as may be corrected in the application registration section by the applicant or with his/her consent, they may not serve as a basis for returning the application.

6. The applicant may return the application within three days, and in the cases prescribed in Articles 81, 84 and 86 of this Law, within one day may appeal to the Constitutional Court. The final decision on the matter shall be adopted by three judges of the Constitutional Court not later than one day after the appeal is filed.

7. The judicial compositions shall be formed by way of lot, the procedure whereof, as well as the peculiarities of the activities of judicial compositions shall be prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. In case of absence of grounds prescribed in parts 3 and 4 of Article 26 of this Law, the preliminary consideration of the application shall be carried out in the order prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The case shall be accepted for consideration in the order prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court, where there are no grounds for rejecting the consideration of the case prescribed by Article 29 of this Law.

2. The procedure for receiving the case for consideration or for rejecting the consideration of the application on the basis of individual applications shall be prescribed by Article 69 of this Law.

3. By the procedural decision on receiving the case for consideration, the Constitutional Court shall also decide on the issue of involvement of the respondent in the case, the timing of the start of the proceeding of the case, the appointment of a rapporteur, the procedure of the proceeding of the case, as well as other issues related to the preparation of the case, and by the procedural decision on receiving the case for consideration on the basis of an individual application, also based on the motion of the applicant, the issues of exemption from payment of state duty in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia on State Duty.

4. The issues prescibed in the individual applications prescribed in Part 3 of this Article shall be resolved by the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court within ten days after rendering the decision of the Constitutional Court on receiving the case for consideration .

5. The decision on receiving the case for consideration shall be forwarded to the parties within a period of three days.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall render a decision on rejecting the consideration of the case in full or in part:

1) where the issues raised in the application fall out of the competence of the Constitutional Court;

2) where the applicant is not entitled to apply to the Constitutional Court;

3) where the Constitutional Court has a decision on an issue raised in any of the applications submitted with regard to cases referred to in clauses 1-5 of Article 168 of the Constitution;

4) where, on the basis of another application on the subject matter, the Constitutional Court conducts a proceeding of a case;

5) where, the disputed legal act or the provision thereof has been terminated and it has not been applied or shall not be applied;

6) in other cases provided for by Article 69 of this Law.

2. The Constitutional Court may, on the basis of the circumstances of the case, in the applications referred to clause 3 of part 1 of this Article, render a reasoned procedural decision on accepting the case for consideration.

3. The Constitutional Court shall forward the procedural decision on rejecting the consideration of the case in full or in part within three days, and in the cases provided for in Articles 81, 84 and 86 of this Law – immediately.

4. (Repealed by HO-157-N of 23.03.18)

 

1. The applicant may withdraw the application submitted to the Constitutional Court until the commencement of the proceeding of the case, except for the cases where applying to the Constitutional Court is the applican’s duty.

2. The Constitutional Court may reject the withdrawal of the application, where it finds that the consideration of the case on the subject matter of the application derives from public interests, except for the cases prescribed by this Law where the withdrawal of the application shall entail the dismissal of the case.

 

1. After accepting the case for consideration, the Constitution Court may, on the motion of the applicant or on its own initiative, until the completion of the proceeding of the case, suspend a legal act or a legal norm the constitutionality whereof is disputed, where the failure to adopt a decision on suspension may result in irrevocable or grave consequences for the applicant or the public.

2. The procedural decision on suspension of the disputed legal act shall enter into force on the next day of its publication on the official website of the Constitutional Court. That decision shall be promptly publicated through the official website of public notifications of the Republic of Armenia, at http://www.azdarar.am, and the relevant information shall be provided through the Public Television and Radio within 24 hours.

 

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall find out circumstances of the case ex officio.

2. The Constitutional Court shall not be constrained by the evidence, explanations, motions, propositions and objections submitted by the participants in constitutional proceedings and on its own initiative shall take adequate measures to obtain possible and accessible information on the actual facts necessary for the resolution of a particular case.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall examine cases and adopt decisions and conclusions collegially.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall ensure that the parties have equal opportunities throughout the course of the proceedings, including providing each party with a full opportunity to present its position on the case under review.

 

1. The proceeding shall be public, except for the cases prescribed by part 4 of this Article.

2. Those present at a session may take written notes of the proceeding and audio-record it.

3. The proceeding may be filmed and broadcast, including on internet, if the Constitutional Court has not adopted a procedural decision on restricting the filming and broadcasting of the proceeding.

4. For the purpose of protection of the private life of the participants in the proceedings, minors, and interests of justice, as well as for the purpose of protection of state security, public order or morality, the representatives of mass media and public representatives may be prohibited from participating in the sessions of the Constitutional Court or in some of them upon the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court taken by the majority vote of all the judges of the Constitutional Court.

5. On the initiative of the Constitutional Court or on the motion of one of the parties to the proceedings, the question of holding a proceeding closed to the public shall also be discussed in a session closed to the public and the decision shall be delivered in the deliberation room.

6. A session closed to the public may be attended by the parties to the proceeding, their representatives, and if necessary, by witnesses, experts and translators.

7. Regardless of all circumstances, the final part of the decisions on the merits and of the opinions of the Constitutional Court shall be announced in a public session.

 

1. The constitutional proceedings shall be conducted in Armenian.

2. The participants in the proceedings may speak in the court in their preferred language if they provide the Armenian translation. The Constitutional Court shall provide free of charge translation services to the participants in the proceedings having no command of Armenian at the expense of the state budget funds if they prove that they lack the means to afford paid translation services.

3. The procedure for and the amount of remuneration of the translators shall be defined by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

 

 

1. The proceeding of cases at the Constitutional Court shall be conducted at the sessions of the Constitutional Court.

2. The session shall have quorum, where the quorum for rendering a decision with regard to the given case, as prescribed by Article 62 of this Law, is present.

3. The proceeding of each case at the Constitutional Court shall be conducted in a separate court session.

 

1. The session of the Constitutional Court shall be convened and presided by the President of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The President of the Constitutional Court and the rapporteur shall decide on the scope of persons to be invited to the session of the court.

2. Carbon copies of applications and of other documents obtained in the course of preparing the case for proceeding shall be forwarded to the judges of the Constitutional Court, the parties, and, where necessary, to the invitees, at least ten days prior to the court session, and in the cases prescribed in Articles 81, 84 and 86 of this Law, at least one day prior to the court session.

3. The Staff of the Constitutional Court shall notify the participants in the proceedings and the invitees of the day and time of the session of the Constitutional Court through the procedure prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. Proceeding of cases at the Constitutional Court shall be conducted both through oral and written procedure, in compliance with this Law.

2. Rules for proceeding of cases through written and oral procedure shall be prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court, based on the general requirements of this Law.

3. The participants in the proceeding shall be informed in writing of the proceeding of the case through oral or written procedure, within a three-day period following the acceptance of the case for consideration, which shall contain the following information:

1) the text of the Constitutional Court’s procedural decision on the proceeding of the case through oral or written procedure;

2) the period during which the proceeding participants must submit their written explanations, if the proceeding is conducted through written procedure, and other materials of the case;

3) brief information about the rights and responsibilities of the participants during the proceeding of the case.

 

1. By the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, prior to the commencement of the procedure, only cases on the same issue may be joined and considered in the same session of the Court.

 

1. The Constitutional Court, related to the preparation of the case for proceeding – also the judge of the Constitutional Court appointed as rapporteur in the given case, with the knowledge of the President of the Constitutional Court, shall be entitled to request documents, information and other materials from state and local self-government bodies, the officials thereof, to order considerations, expect for expert considerations on the matters of law, and to request from natural and legal persons materials at their disposal.

2. The requirements of the Constitutional Court and the rapporteur (hereinafter – the requirement) shall be fulfilled within the time period established by the Constitutional Court or the rapporteur.

3. Where the fulfillment of the requirements of the Constitutional Court or the judge reporting on the case within the time period specified in part 2 of this Article is not possible, the addressee of the claim must notify the Constitutional Court or the rapporteur in writing of the need to extend the deadline no later than three days before the deadline for the execution of the claim. The Constitutional Court or the reporting judge may extend the deadline for the execution of the claim or redirect the claim to another body (person). Otherwise, the period already established by the Constitutional Court or the rapporteur shall remain in force.

4. Failure to perform or improper performance or violation of the deadlines for the performance of the requirements of the Constitutional Court on the provision by state and local self-government bodies, natural and legal persons of documents, information or other materials shall entail administrative liability.

 

1. Evidence in a case shall be any information obtained as prescribed by law, based on which the Constitutional Court clarifies the claims of the parties to the proceedings and the presence or absence of facts substantiating the objections.

2. The information prescribed in part 1 of this Article shall be approved by the following:

1) testimonies of witnesses;

2) expert opinion;

3) written documents, materials and items (written and material evidence), including official statements of information and other information received from state and local self-government bodies;

4) testimonies made by parties to the proceedings as witnesses.

3. The parties shall not have the right to destroy or conceal any evidence or to hinder in any other manner the consideration and assessment thereof, making the collection and submission of evidence impossible or difficult.

 

1. The participants in constitutional proceedings shall be as follows:

1) parties to the proceedings:

a. applicant – bodies and persons having the right or obligation to apply to the Constitutional Court in accordance with Article 23 of this Law,

b. respondent – bodies and persons provided for by this Law;

2) witness, expert and translator;

3) in the cases prescribed by this Law, third parties, as well as other persons who, in the manner prescribed by this Law, enjoy the rights of a party to the proceedings.

2. Representatives of the President of the Republic, the National Assembly, the Government, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Cassation Court, the Human Rights Defender, the Prosecutor General who wish to participate in the session of the Constitutional Court can apply to the Constitutional Court and receive materials in advance on the case under consideration. During the proceeding, they can give explanations on questions addressed to them by the Constitutional Court in the status of invited persons.

 

1. Where the applicant fails to mention the respondent in an application submitted to the Constitutional Court or mentioned an improper party, the Constitutional Court shall involve the respondent or the appropriate respondent and, in cases provided for by this Law, also the co- respondents as a party upon the procedural decision on accepting the case for consideration.

 

1. Parties may act at the Constitutional Court in person or through their representatives.

2. The head of the body having submitted an application to the Constitutional Court, the head of the body having adopted the disputed act, as well as the person appointed in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”, may act as an ex officio representative of a party.

3. Persons authorised by a party may act as a representative thereof at the Constitutional Court – an official or the advocate or the person having higher education in law, the powers whereof are certified as prescribed by law.

4. In the cases provided by clause 11 of Article 168 of the Constitution, the Deputy Prosecutor General shall act as his/her representative at the Constitutional Court.

5. Each of the parties may have no more than three representatives at the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The parties shall have the right to:

1) acquaint themselves with the materials of the case, take extracts therefrom;

2) submit materials of significance for disposition of the case;

3) present their stance in relation to the case;

4) address questions to the other party, his/her representative, expert, witness;

5) file motions, make proposals and submit objections.

2. During the proceeding carried out through written procedure, the parties shall submit their explanations, motions, proposals and objections in writing within the time limits established by the Constitutional Court, before the start of the proceeding of the case.

3. After the expiration of the time period established by the Constitutional Court, the parties may submit explanations, motions, objections, proposals, evidence or other materials in the event that these materials were known to the party during the proceeding for reasons beyond his/her control, are essential for resolving the case and will contribute to the most effective proceeding of the case.

 

1. The parties shall be obliged to:

1) appear at the invitation of the Constitutional Court;

2) give explanations and answer questions;

3) submit materials relating to the case upon the request of the Constitutional Court;

4) observe the rules of consideration of cases at the Constitutional Court and other requirements of this Law;

5) exercise their procedural rights in good faith.

 

1. When judges of the Constitutional Court enter the courtroom those present in the courtroom shall rise to their feet, and they shall then take their seats at the invitation of the presiding judge of the session. Derogation from this rule shall be allowed only by the permission of the Court.

2. The presiding judge, assuring at the appointed time, that the session has quorum, shall open the session and announce the case subject to consideration.

3. The presiding judge shall, through the secretariat of the session, find out whether the participants in the proceedings are present and verify the powers of the representatives of the parties, and then s/he shall then put the issue of commencing the case proceeding under consideration. If the Court finds it impossible to commence the case proceeding, it shall render a procedural decision on postponing it. After the postponement of the case proceeding, the new proceeding shall be resumed from the moment of its interruption.

4. The presiding judge shall clarify the rights and responsibilities of those participating in the proceedings present at the court session.

5. The participants and the invitees of the proceedings shall address the Court as “High Court” and shall give explanations, motions, proposals, objections, clarifications or answers standing up. Derogations from the rules prescribed by this part shall be allowed by the permission of the Court.

6. The case proceeding shall start with the report of the rapporteur. The judges of the Constitutional Court may address questions to the rapporteur.

7. After the report, the Constitutional Court shall hear the opinions of the judges of the Court and the proposals of the parties and shall render a procedural decision thereon. The procedure established for studying the materials of the case may be altered upon the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court. The proposals of the judges of the Constitutional Court with regard to studying the materials in the course of the case proceeding shall be considered immediately.

8. Persons present at the session are required to keep silence during the session, listen to the rulings and the conclusions of the Constitutional Court standing up. Derogation from this rule shall be allowed only by the permission of the Court.

9. The moment the Constitutional Court leaves the courtroom, all those present shall stand up. Derogation from this rule shall be allowed only by the permission of the Court.

 

1. The presiding judge shall have the right to warn the person having committed a violation in case the person maliciously evades appearing at the court or exercises his/her procedural rights in bad faith or fails to perform his/her procedural duties without good reason or performs them improperly, fails to perform orders of the presiding judge, hinders the natural course of the court session or commits contempt of court by means of taking other actions breaking the order of the court session, and the Constitutional Court shall have the right to remove the person breaking the order from the courtroom, if necessary.

2. The sanction shall be proportionate to the severity of the act and be aimed at ensuring the normal operation of the Court.

3. Removal from the courtroom may be imposed on the participants in the proceedings for no longer than 36 hours, whereas it may be imposed on other persons present at the court session, for a certain time period or until the conclusion of the proceeding.

4. Removal from the courtroom may not be imposed on the person testifying at the given moment. Where removal from the courtroom is imposed on the person applying to the Constitutional Court, the court session shall be postponed for the period for which the sanction is to be in effect.

5. The Court shall have the right to allow — upon a substantiated motion of the advocate or another representative of the person, participating in the proceedings, who has been removed from the courtroom, prior to the end of the time period for the imposition of the sanction — to restore the participation of the removed person in the court session.

6. In case of non-fulfillment of the procedural decision to remove from the conference room immediately and voluntarily, it shall be enforced.

7. Judicial fines apply in the amount of up to AMD 100 000. The size of the judicial fine shall be determined at the discretion of the Court, while in addition to the gravity of the act, the identity of the perpetrator must also be taken into account. Judicial fines shall be applied according to the procedural decision of the Court adopted at the same court session. The decision to apply a judicial fine shall be enforced in the manner prescribed by law.

8. Judicial sanction “removal from the courtroom” shall not be imposed on the prosecutor or attorney participating in the proceedings as a representative of the party. After imposing judicial sanction on the prosecutor or attorney participating in the proceedings as a representative of the party, for the violation of part 1 of this Article, The Constitutional Court shall send the procedural decision on judicial sanction to the Prosecutor General or the Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates. The procedural decision on the imposition of judicial sanction does not exclude the possibility of initiating disciplinary proceedings against the prosecutor or attorney for the same deed.

9. The Constitutional Court, instead of imposing the judicial sanction provided for in this Article, may appeal to the Prosecutor General or the Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates requesting the prosecution of a prosecutor or a lawyer, respectively. An appeal to the Prosecutor General or the Chamber of Advocates shall be carried out according to the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, adopted at the same court session. It is an indispensable reason for initiating disciplinary proceedings against a prosecutor or lawyer.

10. The procedural decision on the imposition of judicial sanction shall enter into force upon the promulgation.

11. If the Court considers that the participant in the proceeding or other person present at the hearing has demonstrated such behavior in relation to the court or committed an act that entails criminal liability, the Court may, in the manner established by this Article, without warning impose judicial sanction on the person, with the exception of a fine, and shall apply to the prosecutor with a motion to institute criminal proceedings. The Constitutional Court shall render a procedural decision on this issue.

 

1. The presiding judge shall suggest the parties to give explanations on the circumstances of the case under consideration and present evidence substantiating their position.

2. The Constitutional Court shall hear the explanations of the parties in full.

3. The parties shall not have the right to use their speeches for making political statements.

4. After the explanations provided by the party, the judges of the Constitutional Court, the other party and, upon the permission of the Court, also the expert may address questions to the party concerned.

5. The information presented in the explanations of the parties concerning the facts shall not have probative value. A party may disclose information of probative value relating to the facts only through the procedure prescribed by Article 52 of this Law.

6. The parties, after providing explanations, shall submit the text of their explanations to the Constitutional Court.

 

1. If a party is aware of any fact to be clarified with respect to the given case, it may act as a witness on its own initiative.

2. If, notwithstanding the measures taken to obtain evidence, the acquired evidence is not sufficient for rendering a decision or accepting an opinion on the case, and a party may be aware of any fact to be clarified with respect to the given case, it shall be obliged to act as a witness on the upon the request of the Constitutional Court or upon the motion of the other party.

3. Parts 2-4 of Article 55 of this Law shall extend to the party having acted as a witness.

 

1. A person with special knowledge on the matters of the case under consideration and not interested in the outcome of the case may, upon his/her consent, be involved in the constitutional proceedings as an expert.

2. If the expert did not appear at the session of the Constitutional Court for no good reason, by the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court s/he may be brought to the Constitutional Court in the manner prescribed by law.

3. The presiding judge of the session shall warn the expert about the liability established by law for knowingly giving a false conclusion.

4. The Constitutional Court shall decide on the scope of the issues requiring an expert conclusion.

5. The questions provided for the expert conclusion should be clearly formulated. They shall be submitted in writing.

 

1. The expert shall have the right to:

1) be acquainted with the materials of the case with the permission of the Constitutional Court;

2) with the permission of the Constitutional Court, ask questions to the parties and witnesses, as well as to another expert who has presented his/her conclusion at the hearing;

3) file motions to provide him or her with additional materials.

2. After presenting the conclusion, the expert shall be obliged to answer questions of the judges of the Constitutional Court and the parties.

3. The conclusion signed by the expert shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall, upon the motion of a party or on its own initiative, invite to a session and hear as witnesses’ testimonies of persons who may be aware of any fact that needs to be clarified in this case. The Constitutional Court may reject a request of a party to invite a witness by a reasoned procedural decision.

2. If the witness did not appear at the session of the Constitutional Court for no good reason, by the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court s/he can be brought to the Constitutional Court in the manner prescribed by law.

3. The presiding judge shall warn the witness about the liability prescribed by law for giving knowingly false testimony and refusing to testify.

4. The witness shall be obliged to inform the Court of the facts relevant to the case under consideration, personally known to him or her, to answer the questions of the judges, parties and the expert.

5. Witnesses who appeared at the court session shall be removed from the courtroom prior to their interrogation. The Staff of the Constitutional Court shall take measures so that the interrogated witnesses do not communicate with the witnesses who were not interrogated.

 

1. The Constitutional Court may suspend the case proceedings:

1) if an expert examination is scheduled;

2) if judicial assignments are provided;

3) if it is necessary to require evidence from other bodies or persons;

4) if one of the parties of the court proceedings or his/her representative have requested to suspend the proceedings on the case due to illness or for another good reason;

5) in other cases provided for by a reasoned procedural decision of the Constitutional Court;

2. Suspension of the case proceedings shall entail the suspension of the procedural deadlines prescribed by this Law, the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court and procedural decisions of the Constitutional Court.

3. The proceedings are resumed after the grounds for suspension have ceased. Until the grounds for suspension cease to exist, the proceedings shall be resumed by a motivated procedural decision of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. After final speeches made by the parties, the Constitutional Court shall decide to resume the case proceedings, if it considers necessary to discover circumstances significant for disposal of the case or to examine new materials.

2. After resumption of the proceedings, the parties shall have the right to make final speeches in relation to the new circumstances and materials examined.

3. After final speeches made by the parties, the presiding judge shall announce about the completion of the case proceeding.

 

1. The sessions of the Constitutional Court shall be recorded. The procedure for recording the session of the Constitutional Court is prescribed in the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

2. The presiding judge and the person taking the minutes shall sign the minutes of the session.

3. The parties shall have the right to familiarize themselves with the minutes of the session and submit their comments, which shall be attached to the minutes.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision or opinion on the case in a closed deliberation of the Court, at which only judges of the Constitutional Court, who have taken part in the proceeding of the case, shall be present.

2. During the deliberation, the judge shall have the right to express his/her opinion on the issues being discussed, as well as to state his/her position related to the resolution of the case.

3. There are no restrictions on the number and length of interventions during the deliberation.

4. The results of the deliberation shall be recorded automatically. If it is impossible to automatically record the results of the deliberation, on behalf of the President of the Constitutional Court, one of the judges of the Constitutional Court shall record the results of the deliberation in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court. The minutes shall indicate the issues put to the vote and the voting results.

5. The minutes shall be signed by the judges of the Constitutional Court having participated in the deliberation.

6. The results of the roll-call voting shall not be subject to publication.

7. The deliberation shall continue until the adoption of a decision or an opinion by the Court, with the exception of the times provided for breaks and rest.

8. Prior to the announcement of the decision at a session of the Constitutional Court, the judges must refrain from disclosing any information about the decision.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall terminate the proceedings of the case:

1) at any stage of the consideration of the case, if the grounds for rejecting the consideration of the case, prescribed in Article 29 of this Law, are identified;

2) if the challenged legal act or its provision is terminated before or during the proceeding of the case and it was not applied;

3) in the cases prescribed by Articles 75, 79, 80, 82-85 of this Law;

4) in the cases prescribed by clause 5 of part 1 of Article 56 of this Law when the circumstances serving as grounds for suspension have not been eliminated within one year after adoption of the procedural decision on the suspension of the case proceedings, and it is impossible to resume the case proceedings under such conditions.

 

CHAPTER 7 | ACTS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT, PROCEDURE FOR THEIR ADOPTION AND REQUIREMENTS TO THESE ACTS

Article 61. Acts of the Constitutional Court

1. On the issues provided for in Article 168 of the Constitution, with the exception of the issue provided for in clause 7, the Constitutional Court shall adopt decisions, and on the issue provided for in clause 7 of Article 168 of the Constitution, opinions.

2. The Constitutional Court shall make procedural decisions on the issues related to the preparation of cases for proceeding and court proceedings, as well as on other issues related to the organization of its activities. Features of the procedure for making procedural decisions are prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court.

3. The decisions on the merits and opinions of the Constitutional Court shall be final and enter into force on the day of publication on the official website of the Constitutional Court. Decisions and opinions of the Constitutional Court shall also be mandatory published in the manner prescribed by law for the official publication of normative legal acts, as well as in the Bulletin of the Constitutional Court.

4. Decisions on the merits adopted by the Constitutional Court shall be binding for all state and local self-government bodies, their officials, as well as natural and legal persons throughout the Republic of Armenia.

5. Procedural decisions of the Constitutional Court shall be binding for participants in the proceedings and other addressees.

6. If the opinion of the Constitutional Court is negative, the issue shall be withdrawn from the discussion of the competent authority.

7. The acts of the Constitutional Court are sealed with the seal of the Constitutional Court with the image of the Coat of Arms of the Republic of Armenia and its title.

 

1. Decisions and opinions of the Constitutional Court shall be adopted by open vote by a roll-call survey of the judges.

2. The judge of the Constitutional Court shall be obliged to vote and vote for or against the adoption of an appropriate decision or opinion of the Constitutional Court.

3. The presiding judge shall vote last.

4. The Constitutional Court shall make decisions on the merits by a majority vote of the total number of judges, with the exception of cases provided for in part 5 of this Article. Decisions on the merits of the Constitutional Court are adopted in the name of the Republic of Armenia.

5. Decisions of the Constitutional Court in cases regarding the termination of the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court and the suspension or prohibition of the political party activities shall be adopted by at least two-thirds of votes of the total number of judges.

6. The opinions of the Constitutional Court shall be adopted by at least two-thirds of votes of the total number of judges.

7. Procedural decisions of the Constitutional Court shall be adopted by the majority vote of the total number of judges of the Constitutional Court, with the exception of cases prescibed in this Law.

8. The Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court shall be adopted, amendments and additions thereof are made by a procedural decision adopted by at least two-thirds of votes of the total number of judges of the Constitutional Court. The Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court shall be published in the manner prescribed by law on the official publication of normative legal acts.

9. If the Constitutional Court does not adopt a decision on the merits or an opinion on the issue under discussion due to the equality of votes, the application shall be considered rejected, as announced in the courtroom.

10. A judge of the Constitutional Court, within ten days following the date of the adoption of the decision or opinion on the issues provided for in clauses 1-4 and 7 of Article 168 of the Constitution, may submit a dissenting opinion regarding both the final and the reasoning part of the decision or opinion, which shall be immediately published on the official web website of the Constitutional Court, as well as published in the manner prescribed by law on the official publication of normative legal acts, and in the Bulletin of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. In determining the constitutionality of a legal act, the Constitutional Court shall assess both the act itself and the prevailing law enforcement practice.

2. The Constitutional Court shall adopt decisions and opinions only on the subject matter indicated in the application.

3. The basis of the decision and conclusion of the Constitutional Court may not be based on circumstances not investigated during the proceeding of the case.

4. The decisions and conclusions of the Constitutional Court shall be announced at the session of the Court and shall be attached to the case.

 

1. The decision or opinion of the Constitutional Court, depending on the nature of the case, shall contain the following information:

1) the name of the decision or opinion, day, month, year and place of its adoption;

2) the necessary data on the parties and other participants in the proceedings;

3) the issue under consideration, reasons and grounds;

4) the article of the Constitution, according to which the Court is authorized to consider the case;

5) the summary of the application;

6) factual and legal circumstances examined by the Court;

7) the articles of the Constitution and this Law, by which the Court was guided when adopting a decision or opinion;

8) legal positions justifying a decision or opinion adopted by the Court, including the arguments confirming or refuting the claims of the parties;

9) the wording of the decision or opinion, indicating in the cases provided for by this Law also the invalidity of other provisions interconnected with a invalidated legal act or other provisions thereof;

10) an indication, in the cases provided for in Chapter 8 of this Law, of administrative or judicial acts subject to review in the manner prescribed by law;

11) a brief constitutional legal content of the disputed act or the disputed provision thereof in the final part of the decision in case of adoption of the decision prescribed by clause 2 of part 9 of Article 68 of this Law;

12) an indication of the finality of the decision or opinion and its entry into force upon promulgation or the establishment of a later deadline for the loss of legal force of a normative legal act or part thereof, which are declared by the Constitutional Court as contradicting the Constitution.

2. The decision on the merits or the opinion of the Constitutional Court shall be signed by the presiding judge.

 

1. Decisions and opinions of the Constitutional Court shall be distributed to the parties to the legal proceedings within three days from the date of adoption.

 

1. The Government shall, not later than three months after the publication of the decision of the Constitutional Court, study and, if necessary, initiate, on the basis of the decision of the Constitutional Court, elaboration and submission of the relevant legal acts to the National Assembly.

2. In the event that by the decision of the Constitutional Court the normative legal act is declared as contradicting the Constitution in full or in part and a later deadline for the loss of legal force of the normative legal act or part thereof is established, the Government shall ensure the enforcement of the decision by submitting a draft or a package of draft laws prior to the expiration of this period.

 

1. The Constitutional Court shall, within 45 days after the end of each year, publish on the official website of the Constitutional Court a report on the status of enforcement of its decisions.

 

CHAPTER 8 | PECULIARITIES OF CONSIDERATION AND ADJUDICATION OF CASES AT THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

Article 68. Consideration of cases to determine the conformity of legal acts with the Constitution on the basis of applications of the President of the Republic, the Government, at least one fifth of the total number of Deputies and the Human Rights Defender

1. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the constitutionality of legal acts of both normative and individual nature specified in clause 1 of Article 168 of the Constitution may be challenged, except for the cases submitted by the Human Rights Defender.

2. The Human Rights Defender may only dispute the conformity of normative legal acts listed in clause 1 of Article 168 of the Constitution with the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Constitution.

3. The constitutionality of the individual legal acts may be disputed within three months since the adoption of that act.

4. The constitutionality of the laws on ratification of international treaties of the Republic of Armenia may be disputed only in regard to compliance of the requirements prescribed by the Constitution for enactment of such a law.

5. In regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the state or local self-government body or the official who adopted the challenged act shall be involved as a respondent party in the proceedings.

6. In the cases of challenging the constitutionality of laws prescribed in Article 204 of the Constitution, submitted as a civil initiative and adopted through a referendum, the defendant is not involved in legal proceedings.

7. The cases referred to in part 1 of this Article shall be examined by the Constitutional Court in a written procedure, unless the case, as assessed by the Constitutional Court, has received widespread publicity or its oral proceeding will contribute to the most effecient disclosure of the circumstances of the case.

8. In cases referred to in part 1 of this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision no later than six months after the registration of the appeal. By a motivated procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, the period for consideration of a case may be extended, but not more than by three months.

9. With regard to the cases referred to in part 1 of this Article, the Constitutional Court may adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on recognition of the challenged act or challenged provision thereof as complying with the Constitution;

2) on recognition of the challenged act or its challenged provision as complying with the Constitution in the interpretation of the Constitutional Court,

3) on recognition of the challenged act as fully or partially contradicting the Constitution and invalid;

4) on recognition of the challenged act as fully or partially contradicting the Constitution and establishment of a later date for invalidateing the normative legal act or a part thereof.

10. In determining the constitutionality of a normative legal act, the Constitutional Court shall also ascertain the constitutionality of other provisions of given act in terms of their systemic relationship with the challenged provision of this act. The Constitutional Court, having ascertained that the provisions of this regulatory legal act are in conflict with the Constitution and are interconnected with the challenged provisions, may declare these provisions to be contrary to the Constitution and invalid.

11. In the event of the adoption of a decision recognizing the challenged act fully or partially contradicting the Constitution and invalid, it shall lose legal force from the moment the decision of the Constitutional Court comes into force, with the exception of cases prescribed by parts 13 and 15 of this Article. Administrative or judicial acts based on these acts, executed in the period preceding the adoption of the decision of the Constitutional Court shall not be subject to review, and the execution of outstanding administrative and judicial acts shall be immediately terminated by decision of the competent administrative authority or court after the publication of the decision of the Constitutional Court.

12. The relevant provisions of other regulatory legal acts that ensured the execution of a normative legal act recognized as invalid shall lose their legal force simultaneously with the loss of force of the challenged act.

13. The Constitutional Court shall be entitled to extend the decision referred to in clause 3 of part 9 of this Article also to the legal relations preceding the entry into force of this decision if failure to adopt such a decision may cause serious consequences for the society or the state.

14. In the case referred to in part 13 of this article, administrative or judicial acts executed within three years preceding the entry into force of the decision of the Constitutional Court, based on a normative legal act declared to be contradicting to the Constitution and invalid, as well as on other normative legal acts that ensured the execution of this act is subject to review by the body that adopted the administrative or judicial act on the basis of a statement by the party.

15. If a resolution is passed recognizing the impugned provision of a law establishing criminal or administrative liability that is contrary to the Constitution and is invalid, it shall lose legal force from the moment it enters into force, and judicial acts adopted in connection with the application of this provision in the period preceding the entry into force of the decision of the Constitutional Court, as well as administrative acts adopted on the basis of an appeal by a party, are subject to review in the manner prescribed by law.

16. The Constitutional Court may review the decisions prescribed by clauses 1 and 2 of part 9 of this Article submitted in accordance with the procedure prescribed by this Law, where:

1) the provision of the Constitution applied with respect to the given case has been changed or

2) new perception of the provision of the Constitution applied with respect to the given case has emerged owing to which other decision of the Constitutional Court may be adopted with regard to the same issue, and where the given issue has a fundamental constitutional legal significance.

17. The procedural decision of the Constitutional Court on accepting a case for consideration on the basis specified in clause 16 of this Article shall be taken by at least two-thirds of the total number of judges of the Constitutional Court.

18. Consideration of cases referred to in part 16 of this Article may not be rejected on the basis of clause 3 of part 1 of article 29 of this Law, if there are grounds, prescribed in part 16 of this article, to review the decision of the Constitutional Court.

19. If the Constitutional Court considers that the recognition of the challenged normative legal act or any of its provisions as contradicting the Constitution and invalid at the time of announcing the decision of the Constitutional Court, it will inevitably lead to such grave consequences for the society and the state that violate the legal security, which at that moment was approved by the repeal of this normative act, the Constitutional Court, recognizing the act as contrary to the Constitution, may, by its decision, postpone the loss of legal force of this act.

20. The postponement of the loss of force of a normative legal act must be adequate to the period of time during which it is possible and necessary to take measures aimed at preventing the consequences referred to in part 19 of this article.

 

 

1. The application in cases referred to in this article (hereinafter referred to as an individual application) may be submitted by an individual or legal entity in a particular case, when there is a final judicial act, all domestic remedies have been exhausted, and the constitutionality of the provision of the applied regulatory legal act is challenged with regard to this act, which entailed a violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms, enshrined in Chapter 2 of the Constitution, also taking into account the interpretation of the relevant provision in the law enforcement practice.

2. The individual application must contain references to the provisions of the normative legal act the constitutionality of which is being challenged, and justifications that the contradiction of the normative legal act has led to the violation of his or her fundamental rights and freedoms prescribed in Chapter 2 of the Constitution taking into account also the interpretation of the respective provision in law enforcement practice.

3. An individual or legal entity may submit individual applications to the Constitutional Court after the exhaustion of all judicial remedies, no later than six months after the final judicial act has entered into legal force.

4. The decision to refuse to accept the case or to consider the case on an individual application, with the exception of cases prescribed in part 16 of Article 68 of this Law, is held by three judges of the Constitutional Court, on behalf of the Constitutional Court.

5. The consideration of individual applications, in addition to the cases provided for in Section 29 of this Law, may also be denied in cases where the individual application is manifestly grounded or the applicant has not exhausted all judicial remedies, or the six-month period for applying to the Constitutional Code prescribed in part 3 of this Section has expired.

6. The decision to refuse consideration of the case on individual applications, adopted in the manner prescribed by part 5 of this article, must be motivated. It must be adopted unanimously, otherwise the Constitutional Court shall reconsider and resolve the issue of accepting the case for consideration plenary, and a decision on this issue will be taken no later than three months from the date of registration of the individual application.

7. In cases referred to in this article, the body that has adopted the relevant regulatory legal act shall be involved in legal proceedings as a defendant, with the exception of the case prescribed in part 6 of Article 68 of this Law.

8. The Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision in the cases referred to in this article, no later than three months after the registration of the appeal. The term for consideration of a case may be extended by a motivated procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, but for no more than three months.

9. The procedure for the adoption and preliminary study of individual applications is established by the Rules of the Constitutional Court.

10. The final judicial act issued in respect of the applicant in the cases referred to in this article shall be subject to review in the manner prescribed by law on the basis of a newly revealed circumstance in the event that the provision of the regulatory legal act applied to the applicant is found to be contrary to the Constitution and invalid, as well as when in its interpretation having recognized this provision as consistent with the Constitution, the Constitutional Court will simultaneously consider that it was applied in a different interpretation with respect to the applicant.

11. Part 10 of this article also applies to persons who, as of the day the application was registered with the Constitutional Court, still retained their right to appeal to the Constitutional Court on the same issue, but did not appeal to the Constitutional Court.

12. Clauses 3 and 4 of part 1 of Article 29 of this Law shall not apply to the persons referred to in Article 11 in regard with resolving the issue of retaining the right to apply to the Constitutional Court.

13. The rules prescribed in parts 7-20 of Article 68 of this Law shall apply when examining all other circumstances related to the cases referred to in this Article and when adopting decisions thereon.

 

 

1. With regard to cases referred to in this Article, the local self-government bodies may apply to the Constitutional Court related to the issue of compliance of the normative legal acts listed in clause 1 of Article 168 of the Constitution, which violate constitutional rights thereof, with the Constitution.

2. Appeals of local self-government bodies in cases specified in this article shall comply with the general requirements for appeals provided for by this Law, as well as the requirements prescibed in part 2 of Article 69 of this Law.

3. Applications referred to in this article may be submitted to the Constitutional Court no later than one year after the entry into force of the relevant regulatory legal act.

4. In cases specified in this article, the state body that adopted the challenged normative act shall be involved as the respondent, with the exception of the case provided for in Article 68 (6) of this Act.

5. In the cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision within the time period provided for in article 68 of this Law.

6. When considering all other circumstances in connection with the cases specified in this article and making decisions on these cases, the rules provided for in parts 7-20 of Article 68 of this Law shall apply.

 

 

1. Courts shall apply to the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of a normative legal act to be applied in a specific case in their proceedings, if they have reasonable doubts about its constitutionality and find that resolution of this case is possible only through the application of this normative legal act.

2. The Prosecutor General may appeal to the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the provisions of regulatory legal acts related to specific proceedings administered by the prosecutor’s office.

3. Courts may appeal to the Constitutional Court from the beginning of the proceedings in the relevant case until the adoption of a decision on the merits of the case, and the Prosecutor General – after the adoption of this case in its proceedings before sending it to the competent court in the manner prescribed by this Law.

4. In the event of a suspension of proceedings, the courts and the Attorney General may send the appeals provided for by this article within three days after a decision is made to suspend the proceedings. An appeal to the Constitutional Court is constituted by a decision of the relevant court or the Prosecutor General.

5. In the application referred to in part 1 of this article, the court must substantiate its position regarding the contradiction of the challenged provision of the normative legal act to the Constitution, as well as the fact that the resolution of this case is possible only through the application of the challenged provision.

6. In the applications referred to in part 2 of this Article the Prosecutor General shall substantiate his/her position on challenging the provision of the normative act regarding its contradiction with the Constitution, as well as the fact that proper exercise of any authority prescribed in parts 2 or 3 of Article 176 of the Constitution is possible only through application of the challenged provision.

7. In cases referred to in this article, a state body or local government body that has adopted the challenged normative legal act shall be involved as a respondent, with the exception of the case provided for in part 6 of Article 68 of this Law.

8. The hearing of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through written procedure. The parties shall submit written statements to the Constitutional Court expressing their positions before the legal proceeding of the case.

9. In the cases specified in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision no later than three six after the registration of the appeal. The term for consideration of a case may be extended by a motivated procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, but for no more than three months.

10. When considering all other circumstances in connection with the cases specified in this article and when deciding on these cases, the rules provided for in part 9-20 of Article 68 of this Law shall apply.

 

 

1. The National Assembly shall appeal to the Constitutional Court on issues related to membership in supranational international organizations or territorial changes, before the adoption of the draft amendment of the Constitution, as well as drafts of legal acts submitted for referendum.

2. The authorized representative of a civil initiative applies to the Constitutional Court on the issue of a draft law submitted to a referendum in the manner of a civil initiative.

3. On cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision no later than three months after the registration of the application. The term for consideration of a case may be extended by a motivated procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, but for no more than three months, except for the cases prescribed in Part 3.1 of this article.

3.1. The constitutionality of the draft amendments to the Constitution is assessed from the perspective of compliance of the draft with the unamendable articles of the Constitution, within fifteen days after the submission of the application to the Constitutional Court, without the possibility of extension.

4. In cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on recognition of the draft as complying with the Constitution;

2) on recognition of the draft as fully or partially contradicting the Constitution.

5. The cases referred to in this Article shall be examined by the Constitutional Court through written procedure, except for the cases where the given case, according to the Constitutional Court, has gained public resonance, or where the oral trial thereof will contribute to a more effective establishment of the circumstances of the case.

6. When examining all other circumstances related to the cases and making decisions on the cases referred to in this Article, the rules of parts 3 and 5 of Article 72 of this Law shall apply.

7. For the further review in accordance with the procedure established by Article 68 of this Law, the law adopted by the procedure established by this Article, the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court on accepting a case for consideration shall be adopted by at least two-thirds of the total number of judges of the Constitutional Court.

 

 

1. If the President of the Republic fails to sign the law adopted by the National Assembly, s/he shall apply to the Constitutional Court with the issue to determine the conformity of the law with the Constitution.

2. The President of the Republic shall apply to the Constitutional Court no later than 21 days after the adoption of the law by the National Assembly.

3. The National Assembly shall be involved in legal proceedings in the cases specified in this article as a respondent.

4. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on declaring the draft as complying with the Constitution;

2) on declaring the draft fully or partially contradicting the Constitution.

5. If the Constitutional Court adopts a decision recognizing the law or the challenged provision of the law adopted by the National Assembly as contradicting the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, the law is withdrawn from circulation.

6. The rules prescribed by parts 3 and 5 of Article 72 of this Law shall apply when examining all other circumstances related to the cases referred to in this Article and adopting decisions thereon.

7. The procedural decision of the Constitutional Court on initiating proceedings of the case for reviewing the law adopted in accordance with the procedure prescribed by this Article, according to the procedure prescribed in Article 68 of this Law shall be adopted by a vote of at least two thirds of all the judges of the Constitutional Court.

 

1. Prior to ratification of an international treaty by the National Assembly, the Government shall apply to the Constitutional Court on the issue of compliance with the Constitution of the obligations contained therein.

2. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court may, based on its workload, adopt a procedural decision on examining the mentioned cases in consecutive court sessions by postponing the adoption of the decision on the merits of the case after the completion of consideration of each case until the completion of consideration of all the mentioned cases.

3. The decision of the Constitutional Court on the merits of each of the cases prescribed in part 2 of this Article shall be adopted as a result of the same closed deliberations, and all the decisions shall be promulgated consecutively during the court session, in order of priority of the cases considered.

4. The hearing of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out by a written procedure. Upon a reasoned procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, the hearing of the case may be carried out by oral procedure.

5. In the cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision within three months after the registration of the appeal.

6. In the cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on the recognition of obligations enshrined in an international treaty, consistent with the Constitution;

2) on recognition of obligations enshrined in an international treaty as fully or partially contrary to the Constitution.

7. If an international treaty substantially affects the sovereign rights of the Republic of Armenia, then the final part of the decision of the Constitutional Court must contain a corresponding note.

 

1. In cases referred to in this Article, at least one fifth of the total number of deputies may appeal to the Constitutional Court – for disputes arising in connection with the constitutional powers of the National Assembly and the bodies of the National Assembly; the President of the Republic, the Government, the Supreme Judicial Council and local authorities – in relations to the disputes arising in connection with their constitutional powers.

2. An appeal to the Constitutional Court in cases specified in this Article may be submitted within three months from the date of the disputed action, the identification of inaction or the adoption of a legal act.

3. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the President of the Republic, the National Assembly and the Government can be involved as a respondent party.

4. The application submitted with regard to the cases referred to in this Article must contain justification that the respondent’s action, inaction or legal act violates the constitutionally-vested powers of the applicant or the body represented by him or creates an imminent threat thereof..

5. The hearing of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out by a written procedure. Upon a reasoned procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, the judicial proceedings of the case may be carried out through oral procedure.

6. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this Article shall lie on the applicant.

7. In the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision no later than three months after the registration of the appeal. The term for consideration of a case may be extended by a motivated procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, but for no more than three months.

8. In interpreting the relevant provision of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions on disputes between constitutional bodies in connection with their powers:

1) declares conformity with the Constitution by the respondent in the exercise of the challenged power, the action or inaction shown or the adopted legal act;

2) declares contradicting to the Constitution the action committed by the respondent in the exercise of the challenged authority, or the inaction, and the adopted legal act is fully or partially contradicting the Constitution and invalid;

3) recognizes a constitutional body that is not a party to the hearing with the authority to exercise the challenged authority and, on this basis, terminates the proceedings.

9. In the case prescribed in clause 2 of part 2 of this Article, the Constitutional Court shall also assess the constitutionality of a normative legal act as a basis for the action, inaction or a legal act contradicting the Constitution or any provision thereof, and, having concluded that it contradicts the Constitution, the Court is empowered to declare that normative legal act or the relevant provision thereof contradicting the Constitution and void. The Constitutional Court, in the case provided for in clause 2 of part 8 of this article, shall also assess the constitutionality of a normative legal act or any provision thereof, which is the basis for an action, inaction or legal act that contradicts the Constitution and, being convinced of its contradiction with the Constitution, is entitled to recognize this normative legal the act or its corresponding provision is contrary to the Constitution and invalid.

 

1. In cases stipulated by this article, the faction of the National Assembly may appeal to the Constitutional Court on the fifth day from the day of the official publication of the referendum results, until 18:00.

2. In cases provided for by this article, the Central Election Commission shall be involved as a respondent party.

3. In the cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court has the right to entrust the receipt of evidence (information on facts) necessary for the adoption of the decision to state bodies or local self-government bodies, including the courts and prosecution bodies, if necessary, also to the employees of their Office. The evidence presented is subject to consideration by the Constitutional Court in the general manner prescribed by this Law. The Constitutional Court is also competent to form a working group involving the experts of the relevant field.

4. The hearing of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

5. The Constitutional Court in cases specified in this article shall adopt a decision within 50 days from the date of registration of the application.

6. Upon the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, the time limit for consideration of the case may be extended, but not for more than 30 days.

7. In cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) uphold the decision to summarize the results of the referendum;

2) invalidate the decision to generalize the results of the referendum and consider the draft submitted to the referendum adopted or recognize the results of the referendum invalid.

 

1. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the political parties or alliances of political parties participating in the elections may apply to the Constitutional Court.

2. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, an application may be submitted to the Constitutional Court on the 5th day following the day of official publication of the results, by 18:00.

3. The Central Election Commission shall be involved in the procedure as a respondent party.

4. Where necessary, upon the motion of the party or on its own initiative, the Constitutional Court may involve, as a co-respondent, the state or local self-government bodies, except for courts, whose decisions or actions might have affected the results of elections, or who were obliged (shall be obliged) to ensure and protect the right of suffrage, as prescribed by law.

5. The political parties or alliances of political parties, whose interests are or may be affected during the consideration of the case or by the decision to be adopted as a result may, on the basis of their application, be involved in the procedure as third persons upon the procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, whereas in cases when the decision of the Constitutional Court will also necessarily extend to the third persons, the Constitutional Court shall itself be obliged to involve these persons in the procedure.

6. Third persons may be involved in the procedure at any stage of the consideration of the case.

7. Third persons shall enjoy all the rights of a party and shall bear all the responsibilities of the party, except for the rights and responsibilities which, by their essence, are not applicable to third persons.

8. With regard to obtaining evidence (information on the facts) necessary for adopting a decision in the case being examined in the Constitutional Court, the rules provided for by part 3 of Article 76 of this Law shall apply.

9. The trial of cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

10. Information submitted by the applicant party on the facts shall be deemed reliable, where the respondent party refuses to express his or her position thereon, and where it is not refuted by other evidence obtained by the Constitutional Court, having an essential significance for adopting a decision in the given case.

11. Where the respondent party accepts the circumstances, whereby the applicant party substantiates the claims and objections thereof, the applicant party shall be exempt from the duty to further submit evidence on the these circumstances.

12. Consideration of cases mentioned in this Article may be suspended only in the case when the suspension does not obstruct the completion of consideration of the given case within the time limits provided for by the Constitution and part 15 of this Article.

13. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on upholding the decision adopted upon the results of elections of the National Assembly;

2) on declaring the decision adopted upon the results of elections of the National Assembly as invalid, and

a. declaring the results of elections as invalid;

b. declaring the results of elections as invalid and prescribing the procedure for distributing mandates;

c. calling a second round of elections.

14. Where as a result of consideration of the case the Constitutional Court, exhausting all the means provided for by this Law for obtaining evidence, did not, however, have an opportunity to determine the actual results of the election, but it has become obvious from the evidence assessed as reliable by the Constitutional Court that the election fraud has had an organized, massive, repeated or regular nature, and the comparison thereof attests to such a systemic interconnection between them, against the backdrop of which the principles of suffrage prescribed in Article 7 of the Constitution are violated, the Constitutional Court shall, when adopting a decision, be entitled to declare the results of elections as invalid based on that ground.

15. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision no later than 15 days after the submission of the application.

 

1. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the candidates of the President of the Republic and the factions of the National Assembly may apply to the Constitutional Court within a 10-day period after the adoption of the decisions on adopted upon the results of the election of the President of the Republic.

2. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the National Assembly shall be involved in the procedure as a respondent party.

3. Consideration of cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

4. When adopting a decision on the cases prescribed in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall determine the compliance of nomination and election of a candidate for the President of the Republic with the order prescribed by the Constitution and the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “The Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”.

5. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on upholding the decision adopted upon the result of the election of the President of the Republic;

2) on declaring the decision adopted upon the result of the election of the President of the Republic as invalid and

a. declaring elected the relevant candidate;

b. calling a second round of election;

c. calling a third round of election;

d. calling new election.

6. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision within a 10-day period after the submission of the application.

7. When adopting a decision on the cases prescribed in this Article, the Constitutional Court is also empowered to assess the constitutionality of the provisions of the normative legal act applicable in the examined case and, having concluded that they contradict the Constitution, the Court shall declare those provisions contradicting the Constitution and void.

 

1. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Council of the National Assembly shall apply to the Constitutional Court.

2. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, at least one fifth of the total number of Deputies may apply to the Constitutional Court, in accordance with the procedure prescribed by part 7 of Article 157 of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “The Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”.

3. The applications with regard to the cases referred to in this Article, must comply with the general requirements for applications provided for by this Law. The ground for termination of powers of a Deputy prescribed in Article 95 and part 2 of Article 98 of the Constitution must be indicated in the application, as well as evidence confirming this ground must be attached to the application.

4. The Deputy, a case in respect of termination of whose powers is to be examined, shall be involved in the proceedings as a respondent in the cases referred to in this Article and shall enjoy the rights of a party to the proceedings prescribed by this Law and bear the responsibilities provided therefor. Failure without a valid reason by a Deputy properly informed to appear before the court shall be no hindrance for the trial of the case.

5. The trial of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

6. The burden of proof in the mentioned cases shall lie on the applicant.

7. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall verify the existence of the grounds for termination of powers of a Deputy prescribed in Article 95 and part 2 of Article 98 of the Constitution.

8. Where the applicant abandons the application within the time limits prescribed by this Law, and the Deputy does not object to it within a period of three days, the proceedings of the case shall be subject to dismissal.

9. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article the decision of the Constitutional Court shall be adopted not later than 30 days after the submission of the application.

10. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court may adopt one of the following decisions:

1) decision on termination of the powers of a Deputy;

2) decision on rejecting the application.

 

1. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the National Assembly may apply to the Constitutional Court upon a decision adopted by the majority of votes of the total number of the Deputies, not later than within a period of three months after the National Assembly has learnt of the grounds for removing the President of the Republic from office.

2. The National Assembly must indicate in its decision the legal act, action or omission of the President of the Republic of Armenia the adoption or performance of which contains elements of treason against the State or other particularly serious or serious crimes provided for by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia or elements of gross violation of the Constitution, the Article of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia or the Constitution.

3. Applications in cases specified in this Article must comply with the general requirements for appeals prescribed in this Law, and evidence supporting the removal from office of the President of the Republic must be attached to the decision of the National Assembly.

4. In the cases referred to in this Article, the President of the Republic shall be involved as a respondent in the proceedings who shall enjoy the rights of a party to the proceedings, prescribed by this Law and bear the responsibilities provided therefor.

5. The failure of the President of the Republic to appear before the court shall not be an obstacle for the trial of the case.

6. The trial of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

7. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this Article shall lie on the applicant.

8. The judgment of the Constitutional Court in the cases referred to in this Article shall be adopted not later than three months after the registration of the application.

9. In pretrial preparations, the Constitutional Court may form a working group to clarify certain circumstances of the case on the basis of instructions and may also instruct the competent authorities to clarify certain circumstances in relation with this case.

10. In the course of the consideration of cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court or the working group shall be competent:

1) to request criminal, civil, administrative cases, court sentences, decisions, decisions, certificates and other materials from the judicial, prosecutorial, investigative bodies and other state bodies, as well as local self-government bodies,;

2) to order expert examinations and receive opinions;

3) invite and interview the persons whose explanations may be relevant to for the judgment.

11. After opening of the court session, the representative of the National Assembly shall introduce the position of the applicant, after which the President of the Republic or the representative thereof shall present his or her position on the submitted facts. The President of the Republic or his representative shall have the right to a last speech. After this, a study of the evidence is conducted. At the end of the session, the closing statement is made by the applicant party, which may persist on its application or refrain it, and the President of the Republic or his/her representative, who is empowered to speak in defense. After the last statement, the Constitutional Court may, in the manner prescribed by this Law, make a procedural decision on the resumption of the proceedings, and if such a decision is not made, the chair of the meeting shall announce the completion of the proceedings.

12. If the applicant party refuses to appeal within the time period established by this Law and the President of the Republic does not object to this within three days, the proceedings shall be terminated.

13. Waive of the application shall be carried out through the procedure prescribed by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia on “The Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”.

14. For the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court may deliver one of the following opinions:

1) on the absence of grounds for removing the President of the Republic from office;

2) on the existence of grounds for removing the President of the Republic from office.

15. When making a decision, the Constitutional Court is also competent to assess the constitutionality of the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, enshrining the elements of a crime specified in part 2 of this article. Having ascertained the contradiction of these provisions of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court adopts a decision declaring them to be contrary to the Constitution and invalid and accepts the conclusion provided for in clause 1 of part 14 of this Article. Having ascertained the contradiction of these provisions of the Constitution, the Constitutional Court adopts a decision declaring them to be contrary to the Constitution and invalid and accepts the conclusion provided for in clause 1 of part 14 of this Article.

16. In the judgment prescribed in clause 2 of part 14 of this Article, the Constitutional Court must indicate:

1) legal acts, actions or inaction of the President of the Republic, which contain signs of high treason or other particularly serious or serious crime provided for by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and the qualifications of this crime, or legal acts, actions or inaction containing signs of gross violation of the Constitution;

2) the evidence corroborating the guilt of the President of the Republic for the actions prescribed in clause 1 of this Part and the reasoned position of the court.

17. The opinion shall be sent to the National Assembly and made public on television no later than the day after its adoption.

 

1. In cases of the impossibility of the President of the Republic to exercise his/her powers, the Government may apply to the Constitutional Court no later than 5 days after s/he becomes aware of the impossibility of the President of the Republic to exercise his/her powers.

2. The applications with regard to the cases referred to in this Article shall comply with the general requirements for an application prescribed in this Law, as well as evidence confirming the grounds for the impossibility of exercise of the powers of the President of the Republic shall be attached to the decision of the Government.

3. The trial of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

4. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this Article shall lie on the applicant.

5. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall provide the President of the Republic with the opportunity to express his or her position on the given case, where it is possible.

6. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall be entitled to:

1) request decisions, statements of information, and other materials from state and local self-government bodies, as well as medical institutions;

2) invite and hear persons whose explanations may have significance for the opinion to be delivered in a case.

7. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article the decision of the Constitutional Court must be adopted not later than five days after the submission of the application.

8. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court may adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on the impossibility of exercise of the powers of the President of the Republic;

2) on the absence of grounds for the impossibility of exercise of the powers of the President of the Republic.

9. The decision shall be forwarded to the National Assembly, the Government and announced on public television not later than the day following the adopting of the decision.

 

1. The applications referred to in this Article may be submitted to the Constitutional Court by at least three judges of the Constitutional Court, except for the suspension of powers on the grounds of a substantial disciplinary violation, where the National Assembly may submit an application by a decision adopted by at least three-fifths of the total number of votes of the deputies, in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Article 83 of this Law.

2. The application must specify the grounds prescribed by this Law for instituting a disciplinary liability on the judge of the Constitutional Court.

3. Applications referred to in this article shall comply with the general requirements for applications prescribed in this Law, and evidence shall be attached to the application, confirming that there is a reason for disciplining a judge of the Constitutional Court.

4. The judge of the Constitutional Court, the issue of imposing disciplinary liability whereon is being examined, shall be involved in the proceedings exclusively as a respondent and have the rights and responsibilities of a party to the proceedings prescribed by this Law.

A judge of the Constitutional Court, whose case of disciplinary proceedings is being considered, shall be brought to legal proceedings exclusively as a defendant and shall enjoy the rights of the party to the proceedings prescribed by this Law and bear its duties

5. Failure of the properly notified judge of the Constitutional Court to appear without a valid reason shall not serve as an obstacle to hearing of the case.

6. The hearing of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out through oral procedure.

7. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this article lies with the applicant party.

8. If the applicant party refuses to appeal within the time period prescribed by this Law, and the judge of the Constitutional Court does not object to this within three days, the proceedings shall be terminated. The renounce of the recourse is processed by unanimous consent of the applicant judges.

9. In the cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions no later than 50 days from the date of registration of the application:

1) on refusing the application;

2) on imposing a disciplinary liability against the judge of the Constitutional Court and subjecting him/her one of the disciplinary sanctions prescribed in part 10 of this article.

10. In cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court may apply one of the following disciplinary sanctions to a judge:

1) warning;

2) reprimand;

3) severe reprimand.

11. Disciplinary sanction imposed to the judge shall be proportionate to the violation. When applying the disciplinary sanction, the Constitutional Court shall take into account the nature and consequences of the violation, the identity of the judge, intention or gross negligence, the penalties available and other noteworthy circumstances.

12. If a judge within two years from the date of receipt of a severe reprimand, within one year from the date of receipt of a reprimand, within six months from the date of receipt of the warning, has not involved in a new disciplinary sanction, then he shall be considered as having clean disciplinary record.

13. When deciding on cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall also evaluate the constitutionality of the law, enshrining grounds for bringing a judge of the Constitutional Court to disciplinary liability, and being convinced that they are contradict the Constitution, adopts the decision referred to clause 1 of part 9 of this article.

 

 

1. In cases of the termination of powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court, the National Assembly may appeal to the Constitutional Assembly by a decision adopted by at least three fifths of the total number of Deputies, which should contain indications on the grounds enshrined in part 9 of article 164 of the Constitution and part 2 of article 12 of this Law.

2. Appeals in cases specified in this article must comply with the general requirements for appeals prescribed in this Law, and evidence supporting the termination of powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court must be attached to the decision of the National Assembly.

3. From the date the consideration of the cases referred to in this article, the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court shall be suspended until the end of the court proceeding.

4. During the suspension of the powers of the judge, the judge shall continue to receive his or her payment.

5. A judge of the Constitutional Court, whose case of suspension of powers is being considered, shall be involved as a defendant in legal proceedings exclusively and shall enjoy the rights of the party and bears the responsibilities of a party to the proceedings prescribed by this Law.

6. Failure of the properly notified judge of the Constitutional Court to appear without a valid reason shall not serve as an obstacle to hearing of the case.

7. The trial of the cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out by oral procedure.

8. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this Article shall lie with the applicant party.

9. Where the applicant party withdraws the application within the time limits prescribed by this Law and the judge of the Constitutional Court does not object to it within a period of three days, the proceedings of the case shall be terminated. The withdrawal of the application shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “The Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly”.

10. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall exercise the powers prescribed by part 6 of Article 81 of this Law.

11. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall, not later than 30 days after the submission of the application, adopt one of the following decisions:

1) decision on terminating the powers of the judge of the Constitutional Court;

2) decision on rejecting the application.

12. Upon the reasoned procedural decision of the Constitutional Court, the time limit referred to in part 11 of this Article may be extended, but not for more than 50 days.

 

1. In case of consent to institute criminal proceedings against a judge of the Constitutional Court or to deprive him/her of liberty in the exercise of his/her powers, the Constitutional Court may apply to the Prosecutor General.

2. Applications specified in this Article must comply with the general requirements for applications prescribed in this Law, and evidence confirming the grounds for initiating criminal proceedings against a judge of the Constitutional Court or depriving him/her of liberty must be attached to the application.

3. Since the adoption to the consideration of the cases referred to in this Article, the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court shall be suspended until the completion of the hearing. In case of suspension of the criminal case initiated against the judge, the judge continues to exercise his/her powers until a decision is made to resume the criminal case.

4. During the termination of the powers of the judge, the judge shall continue to receive his/her payment.

5. The judge of the Constitutional Court, against whom the issue of initiating criminal prosecution or of depriving him/her of liberty is being considered, shall be involved in the proceedings as a respondent and have the rights and bear the responsibilities of a party to the proceedings prescribed by this Law.

6. The absence of a duly notified judge of the Constitutional Court without good reason to the hearing of the case shall not serve as an obstacle.

7. The hearing of cases referred to in this article shall be carried out by oral procedure.

8. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this article lies with the applicant.

9. If, within the time period prescribed by this Law, the applicant party refuses to appeal and the judge of the Constitutional Court does not object to this within three days, the proceedings shall be terminated.

10. In the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court exercises the powers provided for in clause 10 of Article 80 of this Law.

11. In the cases specified in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall not later than within 48 hours from the date of registration of the application adopt one of the following decisions, and in case of adoption of the decision referred to in clause 1 of this part, also the decision referred to in clause 2 of this part:

1) to institute criminal proceedings against a judge of the Constitutional Court;

2) to deprive of liberty of a judge of the Constitutional Court;

3) to reject the application.

12. When deciding on cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall also evaluate the constitutionality of laws enshrining the grounds for initiating criminal prosecution of a judge of the Constitutional Court or depriving him/her of liberty, and ensuring that they contradict the Constitution, the Court adopts the decision referred to in clause 3 parts 11 of this article.

 

1. The examination of the issue of subjecting a judge of the Constitutional Court to disciplinary liability shall be suspended if a criminal case has been initiated on the same facts, and shall be resumed after the completion of the criminal proceedings.

2. The Constitutional Court shall terminate the examination of the issue of disciplinary liability of a judge if, after the resumption of the examination of the issue of disciplinary liability, there are grounds for termination of the powers of a judge of the Constitutional Court prescribed in Article 12 of this Law. When considering the issue of disciplinary liability, a judicial act that has entered into legal force in a criminal case is binding on the Constitutional Court only on the basis of the facts that confirm the performance of certain actions and the persons who performed them.

 

1. With regard to the cases referred to in this Article, the National Assembly may apply to the Constitutional Court upon a decision adopted by the majority of votes of the total number of the Deputies, and the Government.

2. Appeals in cases referred to in this article must comply with the general requirements for appeals prescribed in this Law, and evidence supporting the grounds for suspension or prohibition of party activities must be attached to the decision of the National Assembly.

3. The political party, with regard to which an application has been submitted for suspending or prohibiting its activities, shall be involved in the constitutional proceedings as a respondent who enjoys the rights and bears the responsibilities of a party to the proceedings prescribed by this Law.

4. The absence of a duly notified party representative without good reason is not an obstacle to the hearing.

5. Where the applicant party withdraws the application in accordance with the procedure prescribed by this Law, and the political party does not object to it within a period of three days, the proceedings of the case shall be terminated.

6. The hearing of cases referred to in this Article shall be carried out by oral procedure.

7. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this Article lies with the applicant party.

8. In the cases referred to in this Article, the Constitutional Court shall exercise the powers prescribed by part 10 of Article 80 of this Law.

9. In cases specified in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt a decision within a period of three months from the date of registration of the application.

10. The Constitutional Court may adopt a decision on suspending the activities of a political party in the case of identifying in its activities the grounds for suspending the activities of a political party as prescribed by the Constitution and the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “On political parties”, and a decision on prohibiting the activities of a political party in the case of identifying the grounds as prescribed by part 4 of Article 46 of the Constitution.

11. In cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall adopt one of the following decisions:

1) to reject the application;

2) to suspend the activities of the party and may entrust the party with the obligation to eliminate the violation that became the basis for the suspension;

3) to prohibit the party activities.

12. When deciding on the cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court shall also be entitled to assess the constitutionality of the provisions of the Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Parties” to be applied in the case under consideration, and making sure that they are contrary to the Constitution, recognizes these provisions as contrary to the Constitution and invalid and on this basis adopt the decision referred to in clause 1 of part 11 of this Article.

 

1. In the cases referred to in this article, the President of the Republic shall appeal to the Constitutional Court within three days from the moment of rejection by the competent authority of his objections or non-appointment of a member proposed by the Government, if s/he considers that the proposal or motion submitted to him/her contradict the Constitution.

2. In cases referred to in this article, the body that has submitted the relevant proposal to the President of the Republic or has filed a motion with him shall be involved in legal proceedings as a defendant.

3. The proceeding of cases referred to in this article shall be carried out by a written procedure.

4. The burden of proof in the cases referred to in this article lies with the applicant party.

5. The Constitutional Court shall hear cases on matters provided for in subsection 139 (2) of the Constitution within ten days after the registration of the appeal, and cases on matters provided for in Article 150 of the Constitution within five days after the registration of the appeal.

6. In cases referred to in this article, the Constitutional Court may adopt one of the following decisions:

1) on the recognition of a proposal or petition submitted to the President of the Republic by the competent authority in accordance with the Constitution;

2) on the recognition of a proposal or petition submitted to the President of the Republic by a competent authority that is not consistent with the Constitution.

 

CHAPTER 9 | (Chapter was edited by HO-47-N of 21.01.20) SERVICE AT THE OFFICE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT (Title was edited by HO-47-N of 21.01.20)

Article 87. Peculiarities of the Service

1. Professional activity at the Office of the Constitutional Court, except for labor activity related to the maintenance of technical functions, is a civil service. The employees holding the relevant positions at the Office are civil servants, and the assistant to the judge is a public discretionary position.

 

1. On the basis of Article 210 of the Constitution this Law enters into force the day the newly elected President of the Republic takes office.

2. The regulations of the Constitutional Court shall be adopted within three months after the entry into force of this Law.

3. Based on Clause 1 of Part 1, and Clause 4 of Part 2 of Article 12 of the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Support, Service and Social Guarantees of the Activity of the Officials, on the grounds of achieving the maximum age of tenure as well as declared to be legally incapable by court, in case of termination or suspension of the powers of the judge of the Constitutional Court, the pension of the person who holds the position of the President or a judge of the Constitutional Court is calculated in 75% of the total amount of the official salary and supplementary salary and 0.9 of the index of position of the judge of the Constitutional Court received till July 1, 2014 adhering the requirements of Part 4 of this Article. If the amount of pension calculated in this way is less than the amount of the pension calculated in the manner prescribed by the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Support, Service and Social Guarantees of the Activity of the Officials, the pension shall be awarded in the amount calculated in the manner established by the Law of the Republic of Armenia on Support, Service and Social Guarantees of the Activity of the Officials.

4. (This part is of no effect by HO-376-N of 30.06.20)

4.1. (This part is of no effect by HO-376-N of 30.06.20)

4.2. (This part is of no effect by HO-376-N of 30.06.20)

4.3. (This part is of no effect by HO-376-N of 30.06.20)

5. (This part is of no effect by HO-376-N of 30.06.20)

5.1. A member (judge) of the Constitutional Court, whose term of office expired and his/her tenure is terminated by virtue of Part 1 of Article 213 of the Constitution with amendments of 22 June 2020, as a person whose powers have been terminated on the grounds of Clause 1 of Part 1 of Article 12 of this Law, shall be assigned a pension in accordance with Part 2 of Article 10 of this Law.

5.2. A member of the Constitutional Court appointed before the entry into force of Chapter 7 of the Constitution, whose tenure is not terminated by virtue of Part 1 of Article 213 of the Constitution with amendments of 22 June 2020, shall continue to serve as a judge of the Constitutional Court before the expiration of the 12 year tenure in this position, accordingly the term of office of a member or a judge of the Constitutional Court before the entry into force of the amendments to the Constitution of 22 June 2020.

5.3. According to the amendments of 22 June 2020 to the Constitution and on the basis of Article Part 1 of Article 213 of the Constitution, the nominations for three vacancies of judges of the Constitutional Court are made by virtue of amendments of 22 June 2020 to the Constitution by the Government, the President of the Republic and the General Assembly of Judges respectively in two-month term after the entry into force of the amendments to the Constitution of 22 June 2020.

5.4. According to the amendments of 22 June 2020 to the Constitution and on the basis of Article 213 of the Constitution, acting as the President of the Constitutional Court due to the termination of powers of the President of the Constitutional Court within one month not later than the expiration of two month period prescribed by Article 5.3, in accordance with Part 5.3 of this Article, shall notify the body (which to datehas not nominated a candidate) authorized to nominate a candidate on the necessity to nominate a candidate for a vacant position of a judge.

5.5. On the basis of Part 4 of Article 213 of the Constitution amended on 22 June 2020, the election to the vacant position of the President of the Constitutional Court shall be carried out in the manner prescribed in Article 19 of this Law in a ten-day term after vacancy management of the judges of the Constitutional Court by virtue of Part 1 of Article 213 of the Constitution amended on 22 June 2020.

5.6. For the cases admitted for consideration, where the member (judge) of the Constitutional Court, whose tenure is terminated by virtue of Part 1 of Article 213of the Constitution amended on 22 June 2020, in accordance with the procedural decision specified in Part 3 of Article 28 of this Law, a rapporteur is appointed within two weeks after the entry into force of the amendments to the Constitution of 22 June 2020, the acting President of the Constitutional Court shall convene a procedural session to appoint a rapporteur from the judges of the Constitutional Court for the resolution of the above mentioned cases.

6. As prescribed in Article 24 of this Law, applications may be submitted to the Constitutional Court electronically if appropriate technical capabilities are available at the Constitutional Court.

7. The Law of the Republic of Armenia HO-58-N of 1 June 2006 on the Constitutional Court is hereby of no effect upon entry into force of this Law.

 

 

 

27 January 2018

Yerevan

HO-42-N