Ruling No. 5 of 30 May 2024 on Constitutional Case No. 12/2024
Referring Authority and Subject Matter of the Case
The case was initiated upon a request submitted by a panel of the Kozloduy District Court, acting on an application by the claimant in pending civil proceedings. The subject matter of the case is the constitutionality of Article 16a of the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy Act and of Article 64, paragraph 3, second sentence of the Health Act, introduced respectively by §88 and §89 of the Act Amending and Supplementing the Renewable Energy Sources Act. The petitioner presents arguments to the effect that the contested provisions are incompatible with the constitutional principles of the rule of law (Article 4, paragraph 1) and the protection of labour (Article 16), with the constitutional requirement that laws be debated and adopted in two readings (Article 88, paragraph 1), with the constitutionally recognised right to work (Article 48, paragraph 1), as well as with the constitutionally mandated state oversight over all healthcare establishments (Article 52, paragraph 5).
Summary of the Court’s Reasoning
In proceedings under Article 357 of the Labour Code (which lists the types of labour disputes), the referring court is required to determine the applicable legal framework as of the date (27 July 2023) on which the employer issued the order changing the employee’s workplace. As of that date, however, the provisions of Article 16a of the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy Act and Article 64, paragraph 3, second sentence of the Health Act had neither entered into force nor even been adopted. They entered into force on 13 October 2023, the day on which they were promulgated in the State Gazette. Pursuant to these amendments to the statutory framework, introduced by §88 and §89 of the Act Amending and Supplementing the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the employer - a nuclear power plant, in this case Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant - through employed qualified physicians with a speciality acquired in accordance with Annex No. 3 to the Regulation under Article 65, paragraph 1, item 4 of the Health Act, and through medical specialists organised in a structural unit within the plant, performs medical activities and issues an opinion on the medical fitness of workers and employees to work at the plant. No retroactive effect has been conferred on these provisions that would render them applicable law as of the date of the contested order, and therefore they cannot serve as its legal basis. Consequently, the provisions challenged before the Constitutional Court do not constitute applicable law in the specific case, as required by Article 150, paragraph 2 of the Constitution.
Grounds for the Ruling and Disposition
Pursuant to Article 13 of the Constitutional Court Act (the Constitutional Court itself determines whether the question referred to it falls within its jurisdiction), the Constitutional Court dismisses the request submitted by the Kozloduy District Court.
Председател: Павлина Панова