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Chapter III. Petitions Concerning Constitutionality of Laws and Constitutional Complaints
Section 3 Constitutional Complaints
Article 59
(Petitions for Constitutional Complaints)
After exhaustion of all ordinary judicial remedies, any person who believes that a final court decision that finds against her or him or a legal provision applied in such a court decision contravenes the Constitution may lodge a petition with the Constitutional Court for a judgment declaring the decision or the impugned legal provision unconstitutional.
Petitions under the preceding Paragraph must be lodged within the peremptory period of six months after the service of final decisions.
Article 60
(Contents of Pleadings of Constitutional Complaints)
Petitions under this Section shall be submitted in writing and include particulars below:
(1) the name, the identification document number, and the domicile or the residence of the petitioner, and the correspondent address to which service shall be made; in the case that the petitioner is a legal person or an unincorporated association, its name and location;
(2) the name, the identification document number, and the domicile or the residence of the statutory agent, the representative or the administrator, where applicable;
(3) the name, the occupation, and the domicile or the residence of the advocate, where applicable;
(4) claims;
(5) the extent to which the legal provision applied in a final court decision or the decision itself contravenes the Constitution and the relevant constitutional provisions or basic rights protected under the Constitution;
(6) the grounds for the petition and the petitioner's submission; and
(7) the relevant final court decision and the evidence which proves the observance of the peremptory period; and
(8) the titles of the annexes and the number thereof.
Article 61
(Admissibility of Constitutional Complaints)
Petitions under this Section are admissible insofar as they concern principles of constitutional significance or it is necessary to satisfy the petitioners' basic rights protected under the Constitution.
The Chamber, whose member is the reporting Justice in respect of the petition, may dismiss it by a unanimous ruling for which reasons must be given. In the case that no such unanimous ruling can be made, the admissibility of the petition shall be decided by the Constitutional Court.
If three or more Justices, within 15 days after the preceding unanimous dismissal ruling has been made, consider that the petition is admissible, the Constitutional Court shall decide on its admissibility. The dismissal ruling shall otherwise be published and served on the petitioner promptly.
Article 62
(Declaring a Final Court Decision or a Law Unconstitutional in the Holding of a Judgment)
If the Constitutional Court finds that the petition is well grounded, it shall declare in the holding of the judgment that the impugned final court decision is unconstitutional and thus vacated, and the matter is remanded to the competent court. If the Constitutional Court finds that the legal provision applied in such a final court decision contravenes the Constitution, it shall further declare the impugned legal provision unconstitutional.
Articles 51 and 52 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the judgments under the preceding Paragraph.
Article 63
(Application mutatis mutandis of Voidance Provision)
Articles 53 shall apply mutatis mutandis to cases where laws are voided immediately by the Constitutional Court in judgments under this Section.
Article 64
(Application mutatis mutandis of Voidance after Time Periods Provision)
In a judgment where a time period is set for the impugned legal provision to lapse, the competent court to which the underlying case of the relevant final court decision is remanded shall decide in accordance with the ratio decidendi of the judgment of the Constitutional Court by which the impugned legal provision is declared unconstitutional, notwithstanding the time period set for the lapse of the legal provision declared unconstitutional, unless the holding of the judgment otherwise decides.
Where a legal provision is set to lapse within a time period under the preceding Paragraph, Article 54 shall apply mutatis mutandis to cases other than the relevant underlying case that are pending before each court.