The right to legal aid in the context of court-appointed legal representation SK 5/20
Ref. No. SK 5/20
JUDGMENT
IN THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
Warsaw, 18 November 2020
The Constitutional Tribunal, composed of:
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski – Presiding Judge
Mariusz Muszyński
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Julia Przyłębska
Piotr Pszczółkowski – Judge Rapporteur,
Recording Clerk – Krzysztof Zalecki,
having considered, at a hearing on 18 November 2020 – in the presence of the applicant, the Sejm, and the Public Prosecutor-General – J.W.’s constitutional complaint lodged with the Constitutional Tribunal for it to examine the conformity of:
1) Article 246(1)(1) of the Act of 30 August 2002 on Proceedings Before Administrative Courts (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2017, item 1369, as amended) – insofar as it requires a party to prove that the party is unable to incur any expenses of proceedings, without setting any criteria for assessing the party’s financial situation which are objective, unambiguous, and binding for a competent court – with Article 45(1) of the Constitution in conjunction with the principle of appropriate legislation, derived from Article 2 of the Constitution, and the principle of the diligence of public institutions, expressed in the preamble to the Constitution,
2) Article 276 in conjunction with Article 175(1) in conjunction with Article 246(1)(1) and Article 246(1)(2) in conjunction with Article 245(1)-(3) of the Act referred to in point 1 – insofar as it requires that a party may file an application for the reopening of proceedings only when the application has been drafted and signed by a competent lawyer, without concurrently guaranteeing that the party has the right to be completely or partially exempted from legal fees, and consequently obtain legal aid on the basis of criteria for assessing the party’s financial situation that are objective, unambiguous, and binding for a competent court – with Article 45(1) of the Constitution in conjunction with the principle of appropriate legislation, derived from Article 2 of the Constitution, in conjunction with the principle of the diligence of public institutions, expressed in the preamble to the Constitution,
adjudicates as follows:
Article 246(1)(2) of the Act of 30 August 2002 on Proceedings Before Administrative Courts (Journal of Laws – Dz. U. of 2019, item 2325) – insofar as it is applied in the course of considering an application for the right to legal aid, filed with relation to the reopening of proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Court – is consistent with Article 45(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, in conjunction with the principle of specificity of legal provisions, derived from Article 2 of the Constitution.
Moreover, the Tribunal decides:
to discontinue the proceedings as to the remainder.
The ruling was unanimous.
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski
Mariusz Muszyński
Stanisław Piotrowicz
Julia Przyłębska
Piotr Pszczółkowski