Resolution No. 2 of 8 November 2018 on Constitutional Case No. 5/2018
Referring Authority and Subject Matter of the Case
The proceedings were initiated under Article 149, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Constitution upon requests submitted by the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria (upon which Constitutional Case No. 5/2018 was instituted) and by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria (upon which Constitutional Case No. 6/2018 was instituted) seeking a declaration of unconstitutionality of provisions of the Private Security Activity Act (PSAA, promulgated in State Gazette, issue No. 10 of 30 January 2018). Due to the similarity in subject matter, the Constitutional Court joined Constitutional Case No. 6/2018 to Constitutional Case No. 5/2018 for joint examination and adjudication.
The challenged provisions are Article 5, paragraph 1, item 6, Articles 27, 28 and 29, as well as § 1, item 2 with regard to the words “the separate populated place designated as an independent urbanized territory - in the case of protection of urbanized territories”, together with the related § 1, item 5 of the Private Security Activity Act, on the grounds that they are contrary to the principles of the rule of law and to a number of constitutional provisions.
Summary of the Court’s Reasoning
In the course of the proceedings, the Constitutional Court established that, following its referral and prior to a ruling on the merits, the legislator had repealed all of the challenged provisions of the Private Security Activity Act. By virtue of the Act Amending and Supplementing the Legal Aid Act (promulgated in State Gazette, issue No. 92/2018), both the provisions forming the subject matter of the Prosecutor General’s request and those challenged by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria were repealed.
In view of these new circumstances, the Court held that the repeal of the challenged statutory provisions - constituting the subject matter of Constitutional Case No. 5 of 2018 (together with the joined Constitutional Case No. 6/2018) - resulted in a lack of subject matter and, accordingly, in the absence of a legal interest in examining the case on its merits. Therefore, pursuant to Article 19 of the Constitutional Court Act and Article 25, paragraph 2, and Article 26, paragraph 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court, the requests of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria and of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria were to be dismissed, and the proceedings in the case terminated.
Grounds for the Ruling and Disposition
Pursuant to Article 149, paragraph 1, item 2 of the Constitution (the competence to rule on requests for the establishment of the unconstitutionality of laws) and Article 26, paragraph 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Constitutional Court (the competence to dismiss a request and terminate the proceedings), the Constitutional Court dismisses the requests of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Bulgaria and of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria seeking a declaration of unconstitutionality of Article 5, paragraph 1, item 6, Articles 27, 28 and 29, as well as the request of the President seeking a declaration of unconstitutionality of § 1, item 2 of the Supplementary Provisions of the Private Security Activity Act, insofar as it concerns the words “ the separate populated place designated as an independent urbanized territory - in the case of protection of urbanized territories”, together with the related § 1, item 5 of the Private Security Activity Act; terminates the proceedings on Constitutional Case No. 5/2018; and returns the requests to the applicants.