1998
All months (140)
16/12/1998
140/98
The legal possibility open to veterinary inspectors to enter laboratories where live animals are kept or used without first obtaining a warrant may indeed infringe certain fundamental rights (the right to a defence, the inviolability of a person’s residence and the right to respect for private life), but was nevertheless justified by the need for the special monitoring of premises where animals ran a particular risk of being ill-treated, given the legal guarantee that such monitoring was entrusted to persons with specific powers and bound by specific professional ethics.
Animal laboratory / Animals, protection / Veterinary surgeon.
Cause list number: 1297
General Principles - Proportionality.Fundamental Rights - General questions - Limits and restrictions.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Independence / Impartiality.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right to private life / Inviolability of the home.
03/12/1998
122/98
The right to respect for private and family life guaranteed under Article 22 of the Constitution in conjunction with Article 8 ECHR includes the right for each of the interested persons to be able to be joined to court proceedings which may have repercussions on their family life. The provisions referred to above guarantee that both parents and children have this right. It also applies to the relationship between a child and its foster parents. The Court also found that the right to family life is a civil right in the sense of Article 6 ECHR.
Parent, foster.
Cause list number: 1156
Sources - Categories - Written rules - International instruments - European Convention on Human Rights of 1950.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Access to courts.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right to private life / Right to family life.
18/11/1998
118/98
The Court rejects in preliminary proceedings, any application to set aside a law when that application has not been made within the six months following publication in the Moniteur belge of the contested law.The Court is competent to examine the conformity of its own institutional law with those constitutional provisions whose conformity it monitors.
Time limit for introducing, departure / Constitutional review, institutional law of the Court.
Cause list number: 1416
Constitutional Justice - Jurisdiction - The subject of review - Quasi-constitutional legislation.Constitutional Justice - Procedure - Summary procedure.Constitutional Justice - Procedure - Time-limits for instituting proceedings - Ordinary time-limit.
18/11/1998
114/98
The rule requiring that criminal offences and punishments shall be strictly defined by law, guaranteed by Article 12.2 of the Constitution, does not mean that parliament cannot leave it to the Crown authorities to determine for which harmful or addictive substances possession, trafficking or transformation, etc, is punishable. It does not fall under the Court’s jurisdiction to assess the criminal policy of the Public Prosecutor.
Drug, difference in penalisation / Narcotic / Cannabis.
Cause list number: 1130 - 1129 - 1128
Constitutional Justice - Jurisdiction - The subject of review - Rules issued by the executive.General Principles - Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege.Institutions - Executive bodies - Application of laws - Delegated rule-making powers.Fundamental Rights - Equality.
04/11/1998
110/98
A legally binding provision which empowers the governing boards of state-subsidised private primary schools to refuse to enrol pupils on condition that the boards comply with certain criteria neither infringes the freedom of education nor contravenes a number of provisions of international conventions that the applicants claim to be connected with the freedom of education.
Education, public / Education, private / Pupil, enrolment, refusal.
Cause list number: 1168
Constitutional Justice - Procedure - Parties - Interest.Sources - Categories - Written rules - International instruments.Sources - Categories - Written rules - International instruments - Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989.General Principles - Certainty of the law.Fundamental Rights - Equality.Fundamental Rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Freedom to teach / Right to education.
21/10/1998
107/98
The establishment of an incompatibility between being employed in the registries and secretariats of Public Prosecutor’s Departments in ordinary courts and being elected to public office is not contrary to the principle of equality and non-discrimination contained in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.
Public servant, status / Incompatibility.
Cause list number: 1185 - 1184 - 1183 - 1182
Constitutional Justice - Jurisdiction - Types of litigation - Litigation in respect of the formal validity of enactments / Litigation in respect of the constitutionality of enactments.Sources - Categories - Written rules - National rules - Quasi-constitutional enactments.Sources - Categories - Written rules - International instruments - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966.Sources - Hierarchy - Hierarchy as between national sources - Hierarchy emerging from the Constitution - Hierarchy attributed to rights and freedoms.General Principles - Proportionality / Weighing of interests.Institutions - Judicial bodies - Organisation - Prosecutors / State counsel.Institutions - Judicial bodies - Organisation - Registry.Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Institutional aspects - Executive.Fundamental Rights - Equality - Scope of application - Employment - In public law.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Independence / Impartiality.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Electoral rights - Right to stand for election.Fundamental Rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right of access to the public service.
21/10/1998
104/98
Article 323 of the Civil Code, interpreted as allowing a biological father to submit an application for a paternity test without the mother (who was married to another man at the time of conception), the child or the legal guardian being able to oppose the application, whereas an unmarried mother, her child or the legal guardian may oppose an application to establish paternity if it is against the child’s interest, is contrary to the principle of equality and non-discrimination contained in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.
Paternity, establishment by the court / Lawful descent, child’s interest.
Cause list number: 1155
Fundamental Rights - Equality - Criteria of distinction - Gender.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right to family life - Descent.
15/07/1998
91/98
It is contrary to the principles of equality and non-discrimination established in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution to limit the number of foreign students considered for funding to a maximum 2% of the total number of students in a given higher art education establishment and to impose an additional enrolment fee on foreign students wishing to attend a category of special schools renowned notably for the possibility they present of mixing with Belgian and foreign artists. In the case of foreign students from other European Union Member States, this additional registration fee is moreover contrary to the aforementioned when taken together with Article 6 EC.
Enrolment fee / National of European Union member state / Teaching, art / Student, foreign.
Cause list number: 1305
Constitutional Justice - Decisions - Types - Suspension.Sources - Categories - Written rules - Community law.Sources - Categories - Case-law - International case-law - Court of Justice of the European Communities.General Principles - Reasonableness.General Principles - Principles of EU law - Direct effect.Fundamental Rights - General questions - Entitlement to rights - Citizens of the European Union and non-citizens with similar status / Foreigners.Fundamental Rights - Equality - Criteria of distinction - Citizenship or nationality.Fundamental Rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to education.
24/06/1998
77/98
The presumption in the law governing special orphans’ allowances paid to families that two cohabiting persons of opposite sex constitute a household (unless they are relations by blood or by marriage up to and including the third degree), whereas there is no such presumption in the case of two cohabiting persons of the same sex, is not contrary to the principles of equality and non-discrimination established in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.
Family allowance / Cohabitation / Household / Presumption, legal, rebuttable / Orphan, allowance.
Cause list number: 1201
General Principles - Reasonableness.Fundamental Rights - Equality - Criteria of distinction - Gender.Fundamental Rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to social security.
24/06/1998
74/98
In criminal, as in civil, cases, expert opinions ordered by the trial court must in principle be drawn up after hearing both parties.On the other hand, the principles of equality and non-discrimination and the principles governing the right to a fair trial are not violated when an expert ordered by the public prosecutor or judge to give an opinion during the preliminary investigation does so without hearing both parties. Nevertheless, the law may qualify this possibility and define when, and under what conditions, experts must hear both parties even at this stage in the proceedings.
Criminal procedure / Expert opinion, criminal / Judicial inquiry / Investigation, judicial, preliminary.
Cause list number: 1276 - 1252 - 1203 - 1136
Sources - Categories - Unwritten rules - General principles of law.Fundamental Rights - Equality.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Adversarial principle / Presumption of innocence.
10/06/1998
67/98
If Article 366 of the Income Tax Code, whereby taxpayers may submit a written complaint about their tax bill to the Director of Taxes, is interpreted as granting the Director of Taxes a quasi-judicial role, the principles of equality and non-discrimination established in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution are breached insofar as it confers a quasi-judicial role on an authority offering no guarantee of independence or objective impartiality and does not provide any procedure for challenging the Director. The aforementioned constitutional provisions are not breached, however, if the said Article is interpreted as providing for an administrative appeal before an administrative authority.
Tax complaint, challenge / Procedure, challenging / Director of taxes, quasi-judicial role.
Cause list number: 1157
Sources - Categories - Unwritten rules - General principles of law.Sources - Techniques of review - Concept of constitutionality dependent on a specified interpretation.Institutions - Public finances - Taxation.Fundamental Rights - Equality - Scope of application - Public burdens.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Scope - Non-litigious administrative proceedings.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Independence / Impartiality.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Rights in respect of taxation.
22/04/1998
43/98
Foreigners refused entry or residence in Belgian territory may be subject to a custodial measure for periods of between two and eight months at the most provided the necessary steps have been taken with regard to their deportation. This measure is not discriminatory in comparison with the situation of individuals on remand because the latter are charged with an offence.However, in so far as the law, as a transitional measure, provides for unlimited extensions of these custodial measures against foreigners, it constitutes disproportionate interference with personal freedom.Legislation may stipulate that foreigners who have received an order to leave the country by a fixed date will no longer receive social assistance, with the exception of urgent medical assistance, as a means of encouraging the person concerned to comply with the order. Nevertheless, this measure is discriminatory in respect of those who are entitled to social assistance and the effective exercise of the right to seek a judicial remedy in so far as foreigners are given no further assistance, even though their appeal before the superior administrative court against the decision rejecting their request for asylum has not yet been settled.
Refugee, expulsion / Social assistance, termination.
Cause list number: 1073
Constitutional Justice - Types of claim - Claim by a private body or individual - Non-profit-making corporate body.Fundamental Rights - General questions - Entitlement to rights - Foreigners - Refugees and applicants for refugee status.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Individual liberty - Deprivation of liberty - Non-penal measures.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right of asylum.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Scope - Non-litigious administrative proceedings.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Procedural safeguards, rights of the defence and fair trial - Access to courts - Habeas corpus.Fundamental Rights - Economic, social and cultural rights - Right to a sufficient standard of living.
10/03/1998
26/98
The fact that the mayor and the members of the corporation of mayors and deputy mayors in the Dutch- speaking part of the country are prohibited from including or commenting upon items on the agenda of the municipal council meeting in a language other than Dutch or from replying in another language to statements made by municipal councillors is not contrary to the principle of equality and non-discrimination contained in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution, even in the case of municipalities where certain facilities are granted with regard to the use of languages in administrative matters. The obligation to speak in the language of the region does not apply to other directly elected members of the municipal council.
Municipal Council / Mayor / Deputy mayor / Municipal Councillor / Languages used by the administrative authorities.
Cause list number: 1095
Constitutional Justice - Types of claim - Referral by a court.General Principles - Equality.Institutions - Languages - Official language(s) / Regional language(s).Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Municipalities / Basic principles.Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Institutional aspects - Executive.Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Distribution of powers - Implementation - Distribution ratione loci.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Right to participate in public affairs - Right to participate in political activity.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Linguistic freedom / Protection of minorities and persons belonging to minorities.
21/01/1998
4/98
By levying a tax on the broadcasting of advertisements by a television broadcaster, while this taxable item was already subject to a federal tax (VAT), the legislation of the French Community violates Article 170.2 of the Constitution and the law of 23 January 1989 which forbid the communities from taxing an item which is already subject to a federal tax.
Competence, fiscal / Tax, federal / Tax, authority to levy / Taxation, federated entity / Tax / Value-added tax (VAT), see also tax / Tax on television advertising.
Cause list number: 1077 - 1015
Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Federal entities.Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Basic principles - Autonomy.Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Budgetary and financial aspects - Finance.Institutions - Federalism, regionalism and local self-government - Distribution of powers - Principles and methods.Institutions - Public finances - Taxation - Principles.Fundamental Rights - Civil and political rights - Rights in respect of taxation.