Judgments

A law stipulating that if the husband of the mother of a child born in wedlock wishes to deny paternity of the child he must bring an action within one year of the birth of the child or of his learning of the birth does not violate the principle of equality and non-discrimination enshrined in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.

The fact that the life annuity awarded following a fatal industrial accident is paid to the victim's surviving spouse in the case of a married couple but not to the victim's surviving co-habiting partner in the case of an unmarried couple does not violate the principle of equality and non-discrimination enshrined in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution.

The constitutional principle of equality and non-discrimination contained in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution is not violated by a retroactive law whose purpose or effect is not to interfere in proceedings pending before a judge or to prevent the courts, in particular the Court of Cassation, from deciding a point of law raised in the course of proceedings.

Based on the powers vested in them in the fields of public works and transport, the regions have the power to pass laws aimed at protecting the road infrastructure, for example to protect the road surface against the formation of ruts, and to impose penalties for the infringement of such laws. They may, for example, refer to the maximum authorised weight of motor vehicles fixed by the federal authorities for road safety purposes.The fact that exceeding the maximum authorised weight and the gross axle weight rating constitutes a violation of federal law as well as regional law does not mean that the offender can be punished twice for the same offence. It is for the judge responsible for determining whether the charges are established to ensure that the ne bis in idem principle is respected.A number of authorities, such as the Cabinet, are legally authorised to intervene in Court proceedings to put forward new evidence in initial pleadings.The possibility of providing for public officials to impose administrative fines does not violate Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution, taken jointly with Article 6 ECHR, Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the general principles of criminal law: these administrative decisions are subject to appeal in courts which have the power to review them, de facto and de jure, and which satisfy the requirements of the aforesaid treaty provisions.

The communities (see Supplementary information 1), which have powers in the field of radio and television broadcasting, also have the power to establish an institution responsible for supervising the content of television programmes in order to protect young viewers.Freedom of expression is not unduly affected by the establishment of an administrative body with the power to impose penalties on broadcasting organisations which disregard the ban on programmes likely seriously to impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors.

It is not contrary to the principle of equality and non-discrimination enshrined in Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution to subject voting by proxy on behalf of voters residing abroad to certain conditions which are not required for voting by proxy on behalf of voters residing in the country, at least where such conditions are reasonably justified.The Court has no authority to rule on the matter of Belgians resident abroad being unable to stand for election, as this prohibition is based on the Constitution itself. Nor does the Court have the power to annul elections.There is no need to act on a request to submit a preliminary question when the question concerned does not fall into the categories that can be put to the Court of Justice of the European Communities under the terms of Article 234 EC (formerly Article 177).The Court upheld the effects of the annulled measures, taking into account the limited scope of the annulment.

The Court of Arbitration is not empowered to exercise control over elections or to hear claims concerning possible breaches of the law in relation to elections. An application to have legislation set aside is not admissible if the applicant's claims are, in fact, directed against other legislation promulgated more than six months before the date of the application.

It is discriminatory to grant entitlement to cumulative family allowance (with the sum payable per child increasing according to the number of children in the household) to cohabiting persons of opposite sexes, irrespective of whether they are married, and to cohabiting persons of the same sex related by marriage or otherwise, but not to other cohabiting persons of the same sex.

The Walloon Region has the authority to impose an annual tax on abandoned dwellings. This tax does not infringe the principle of free movement of capital that is one element of the overall statutory framework of economic and monetary union within which the regions exercise their powers in the federal state of Belgium.Nor is the tax contrary to the constitutional principle of equality except insofar as it is levied on buildings left unoccupied against their owners' wishes.

Legislation whereby a lawyer may not refuse on grounds of professional secrecy to divulge information about the assets of a person who is the subject of a collective debt settlement procedure is unconstitutional.

A law under which the exercise by police officers of the right to strike is conditional on prior consultation and certain authorities are empowered to order police officers exercising or wishing to exercise their right to strike to continue or resume working for a specific period in which they have essential duties to perform does not conflict with the constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination (Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution), considered separately or in conjunction with Articles 5, 6, 4, 31 and 32 of the European Social Charter (the right to strike) and Article 11 ECHR (freedom of association).

Setting up a sects observatory is not incompatible with Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution (the principles of equality and non-discrimination), considered in conjunction with Articles 19, 22, 24 and 27 of the Constitution (freedom of worship and expression; privacy; freedom of education; freedom of association), Articles 8, 9 and 10 ECHR (privacy; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression) and Articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of expression).

The "presumption" that the person in whose name a vehicle is registered was the perpetrator of an offence committed with the vehicle is not at variance with the constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination ( Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution), considered separately or in conjunction with the principle of presumption of innocence as enshrined in Article 6.2 ECHR.

Regulations under which public broadcasting companies alone are entitled to broadcast over the air at nationwide level and private radio stations may operate only at local level are not incompatible with the constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution), considered separately or in conjunction with the principle of freedom of trade and industry, Articles 82 and 86.1 of the Constitution (formerly Articles 86 and 90.1) EC, and the principles of freedom of expression as enshrined in Article 10 ECHR and Article 19 of the Constitution, freedom of establishment, as enshrined in European Union law (Article 43 EC, formerly Article 52) and the free movement of services (Article 49 EC, formerly Article 59).