The lack of the possibility of filing a relevant submission in administrative proceedings in the office of a postal service operator carrying out common postal services in EU Member States P 1/18
Ref. No. P 1/18
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 30 October 2019
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Mariusz Muszyński – Presiding Judge
Grzegorz Jędrejek
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski – Judge Rapporteur
Leon Kieres
Justyn Piskorski
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka
Stanisław Rymar
Wojciech Sych
Michał Warciński
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki,
Recording Clerk – Grażyna Szałygo,
having considered, at a hearing on 30 October 2019 – in the presence of the court referring the question and the Public Prosecutor-General – the question of law referred by the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Gliwice as to whether:
Article 57(5)(2) of the Administrative Procedure Code of 14 June 1960 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2017 item 1257), which stipulates that the time-limit for filing a relevant submission is observed when the submission is filed exclusively in a Polish office of the postal service operator within the meaning of the Postal Service Act of 23 November 2012 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2017 item 1481), is consistent with Article 2, Article 32(1) and (2) in conjunction with Article 45(1) and Article 78 of the Constitution as well as with Article 21 and Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016),
adjudicates:
Article 57(5)(2) of the Administrative Procedure Code of 14 June 1960 (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2018 item 2096 as well as of 2019 items 60, 730 and 1133), in the version that was in force until 2 July 2019 – insofar as it differentiates the effects of filing a relevant submission in administrative proceedings, depending on the location of a postal service operator within the territory of the European Union, making the successful adherence to the prescribed time-limit contingent on the filing of the submission exclusively in a Polish office of the postal service operator within the meaning of the Postal Service Act of 23 November 2012 – is inconsistent with Article 32 and Article 78 of the Polish Constitution as well as with Article 21(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (OJ C 202, 7.6.2016).
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, and of 2019 item 125), to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.
The ruling was adopted by a majority vote.
Mariusz Muszyński (votum separatum)
Grzegorz Jędrejek
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski
Leon Kieres
Justyn Piskorski
Piotr Pszczółkowski
Małgorzata Pyziak-Szafnicka
Stanisław Rymar (votum separatum)
Wojciech Sych
Michał Warciński
Jarosław Wyrembak
Andrzej Zielonacki