Where shall the application be submitted?

Constitutional Court is set in motion by the application, which may be delivered in person or via mail to the following address: Bulevardi “Dëshmorët e Kombit”, nr. 26, Tiranë.
The individual who wants to deliver the application in person may be presented at the Constitutional Court, at the Judicial and Documentation Department, from Monday to Friday, 08.00-16.00.
When the application is delivered via mail, the date of its submission shall be considered the date in which it has been delivered at the post office.
In cases where the application has been sent erroneously to another institution and the application has been filed with the Constitutional Court following the expiry of the legal timing, the application shall be considered to have been filed within the legal time period as long as it can be established that this has occurred in good faith.
The law does not provide for the electronic submission of the application or sending it via fax.

Is there any template for drafting the application to be filed with the Constitutional Court? If yes, where can I find it?

In the official website of the Constitutional Court www.gjk.gov.al it can be found the template/form for drafting an application to be filed with the Constitutional Court, as well as other practical information and guiding instructions that are not obligatory.
The applicant may come to the Constitutional Court in person to receive a copy of this form/template, but the court administration cannot help him to fill-up this form.

Is there any time limit for filing an application with the Constitutional Court?

• The applications for the compatibility of laws and other normative acts with the Constitution or with ratified international agreements can be submitted within two years from the entering into force of the act.
• The ordinary courts can submit applications for the incidental control at any time. 
• The applications for the dispute of competencies can be submitted within 6 (six) months from the time the conflict started.
• The applications for the constitutionality of political parties and other political organizations may be presented at any time.
• The applications to review the electability of members of the Assembly shall be submitted to the Constitutional Court within three months of the identification of the fact of inelectability.
• The individual constitutional complaint may be submitted within the 4-month period of finding an infringement.

Which are the formal criteria to be met by the application addressed to the Constitutional Court?
 
The application shall be submitted in a written form in Albanian language, in clear and understandable language, in as many copies as the number of participants in trial.
It shall include:

• the name and address of the Constitutional Court;
• the name, surname or denomination, residence or domicile of the applicant and/or representative;
• the name, surname or denomination, residence or domicile of interested subjects and/or their representatives;
• the subject-matter of the application and the legal basis;
• submission of causes and alleged violations of a constitutional nature;
• documents, evidence or other exhibits associating the application;
• certified copies of all the decisions which are the subject matter of the application, as well as complaints and recourses submitted to other judicial instances;
• signature of the applicant or his/her representative, as well as the act of representation of the latter.

Does the Constitutional Court inform that the application has been duly presented and registered?

Only in cases of submission of incomplete application, the Judicial and Documentation Department shall inform the applicant to make the necessary changes within 10 days. In these cases the application shall be considered incomplete and it shall not be registered with the registry-book of application.
Where the applicant does not submit the revised application or fails to submit it within the time period set out by the Judicial and Documentation Department, the application shall be archived.

Is it possible to have copies of documents attached to the application?

The applicant can receive copies of the documents presented. In this case, he/she should present a written request at the Judicial and Documentation Department.

Which is the means of access of the individual to the Constitutional Court?
 
If the individual appraises that one or more of his fundamental constitutional rights have been personally or directly infringed by the public authorities, he is entitled to lodge a complaint before the Constitutional Court.
With the constitutional amendments of 2016, individual constitutional complaint is the new means which shall guarantee to every individual, natural or legal person, being the subject of private and public law, access to the Constitutional Court in order to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms provided by the Constitution against the organs of public power.
However, individual constitutional complaint is not an ordinary means of application, it is an extraordinary means through which the Constitutional Court examines only whether the constitutional provisions have been violated and not the way how the ordinary courts have interpreted or applied the law.

Can the individual challenge a law or normative act before the Constitutional Court?

In specific cases, the subject-matter of individual constitutional complaint may be the law or the normative act.
The organic law of the Constitutional Court has included individuals in the range of subjects entitled to initiate the review of compatibility of law or other normative acts with the Constitution or international agreements, in cases where they pretend that their fundamental rights and freedoms provided by the Constitution have been directly violated, after having exhausted all effective legal means for the protection of those rights, as well as when the challenged act is directly applicable and does not provide for the issuance of other sub-legal acts. 

Which are the legal criteria to exercise the individual constitutional complaint?

The individual constitutional complaint shall be reviewed by the Constitutional Court when:

• The applicant has exhausted all effective legal remedies before being addressed the Constitutional Court or when the domestic legal framework does not provide for effective legal remedies available;
• The application is submitted within the 4-month period of finding the infringement;
• The negative consequences are direct and real to the applicant;
• The examination of the case by the Constitutional Court could restore the infringed rights of the individual.

As a general rule, before lodging the individual constitutional complaint, the applicant should verify that he/she has exhausted all the remedies of appeal before the ordinary courts, or all the available legal means to remedy or prevent the challenged infringement (the so-called subsidiarity of constitutional complaint).
If any of the remedies of appeal has not been exhausted, it should be verified that the remedy in question does not exist or has been ineffective.

Is representation by an advocate necessary?

Representation by an advocate before the Constitutional Court is not obligatory. Where the individual has chosen to be represented by an advocate, he/she should attach to the application the power of attorney and, in this case, all the Court notifications are addressed to the representative.
During the examination of case in plenary session, the state bodies are represented by their respective leaders and at their absence by persons authorized in writing, whereas the individuals may be represented by themselves or by advocates, who are equipped with a power of attorney or assigned as such upon a declaration at the plenary hearing session.
Where the subject-matter of the case under examination is a law or a normative act, the applicant shall be represented in judgment by an advocate or a specialized legal representative.

What does the Constitutional Court decide when it admits the individual constitutional complaint?
 
The Constitutional Court shall examine whether the act of public power, partially or totally, or the court decision is in conformity with the Constitution and with international agreements. If the subject-matter of the individual constitutional complaint is a law or a normative act, the Constitutional Court may also rule on other provisions that are not the subject of the application, if it deems that they are connected to the case under review. When the Constitutional Court reviews the constitutionality of an act of public power and concludes that it is based on an unconstitutional law or normative act, the Court shall simultaneously decide to also repeal the law or the normative act. In this case, the effects of the Constitutional Court decision shall not extend to the acts which no longer have effects or to judicial decisions that have become final.
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