Compensation for damaged crops or agricultural produce as well as the terms of leasing out hunting areas K 45/16
Ref. No. K 45/16
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 8 May 2019
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Piotr Pszczółkowski – Presiding Judge
Grzegorz Jędrejek
Mariusz Muszyński
Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka
Stanisław Rymar – Judge Rapporteur,
having considered, at a sitting in camera on 8 May 2019 – in accordance with Article 92(1)(1) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. item 2072, as amended) – the application submitted by the National Council of Agricultural Associations for the Tribunal to consider the conformity of:
1) Article 29(1) of the Hunting Act of 13 October 1995 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2005 No. 127, item 1066, as amended) – insofar as it provides that authorities indicated therein lease out hunting areas, with complete disregard for the rights of farmers’ who own plots of land within those hunting areas,
2) Article 12 in conjunction with Article 48(3) of the Hunting Act, insofar as it provides that an award of compensation to a farmer being a landowner – for damage caused to crops and agricultural produce by wild boars, moose, deer, fallow deer and roe deer, as well as during hunting trips – is contingent on the farmer’s prior consent to the instalment of structures and/or the application of measures preventing any damage, which includes delineating and marking no-entry areas in game sanctuaries as well as installing structures related to game management
– to Article 21(1), Article 64(1), (2) and (3), Article 23, Article 31(3) as well as Article 32(1) and (2) of the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
1. Article 29(1) of the Hunting Act of 13 October 1995 (Dz. U. z 2018 item 2033 as well as of 2019 items 125 and 730) is consistent with Article 21(1), Article 23, Article 31(3), Article 32(1) and Article 64 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
2. Article 48(3) of the Act referred to in point 1, insofar as it provides that – due to refusal to consent to the instalment of structures and/or the application of measures preventing any damage – the lessee or manager of a hunting area will not be held accountable for any damage with no causal relation to the refusal of consent, is inconsistent with Article 64(2) in conjunction with Article 31(3) of the Constitution.
Moreover, the Tribunal decides:
pursuant to Article 59(1)(2) and Article 59(1)(3) of the Act of 30 November 2016 on the Organisation of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Mode of Proceedings Before the Constitutional Tribunal (Journal of Laws – Dz. U., item 2072 as well as of 2019, item 125), to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.
The ruling was unanimous.
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Grzegorz Jędrejek
Mariusz Muszyński
Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka
Stanisław Rymar