Constitutional Court individual application deadlines

The Constitutional Court is the highest judicial authority in Turkey, responsible for overseeing constitutional review. It checks the conformity of laws, presidential decrees, and the Internal Rules of the Grand National Assembly with the Constitution in terms of form and substance, and decides on individual applications.

Everyone can apply to the Constitutional Court with the claim that any of the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution has been violated by public authority (Article 148/3, paragraph 1 of the Constitution). Applications can be made in the official language using the application form available on the Court's website. The application can be made in person to the relevant court, or through other courts or foreign representations.

It is necessary to exhaust all ordinary legal remedies in order to be able to make an individual application to the Constitutional Court. The legislator anticipates certain time conditions to prevent the issue from conflicting with other persons or events in the future; these time conditions are directly linked to the principle of legal security.

The deadline for the application, in addition to determining the time limits for examining individual applications, is also important for clarifying the time limits for examining the aforementioned fundamental rights violations and preventing the uncertainty that individuals have been experiencing for long periods of time regarding this matter.

The regulation in the Internal Rules of Procedure

The 64th article titled "Application period and excuse" of the Constitutional Court Internal Rules is as follows:

An individual application must be made within thirty days of the date on which the avenues of application have been exhausted, or if no avenue of application has been provided, within thirty days of the date on which the infringement was discovered. If the applicant is unable to make their application within the time limit due to a justifiable reason such as force majeure or serious illness, they may apply within fifteen days of the date on which the reason ceased to exist, providing evidence of their reason along with their application. A draft decision on whether the applicant's reason should be accepted is prepared by the rapporteur of the commission. The commission first examines whether the applicant's reason is valid and accepts or rejects it. If the nature of the application warrants it, a single draft decision may be prepared on the reason and acceptability, and both matters may be decided together.

The commencement of the period according to the type of service

Delivery is the submission of a legal document or application in a manner conforming to the rules to the competent authority. Notification can be made either physically or through the National Electronic Notification System (UETS); this situation also brings forth differences in time conditions. These differences affect the calculation of the individual application period and directly determine whether the application was made on time.

Electronic Service with the Electronic Notification System (UETS)

Notifications made through UETS are considered to have been served even if the notification is not read, five days after it was entered into the system (Notification Act art. 7/a-2). Therefore, even if the relevant person does not open the electronic notification, the notification is deemed to have been made on the last day of the fifth day (Court of Cassation, E. 2018/144, K. 2019/72, 19/9/2019). In this case, the thirty-day period for individual applications begins to run from the fifth day after the notification was entered into UETS.

Personal service

Service by delivery is considered to be made at the moment when the document is handed over to the person. The date of service is the day when the document is actually received, and the period begins to run from the day after the delivery date.

Notification not being made at all or not being made in a proper manner in certain cases

In the case where the decision has not been notified at all or has not been notified in accordance with the procedure, the thirty-day period is considered to have never started. In such cases, the relevant person can prove that they have actually learned of the decision, and the Court can calculate the application period from that date. A concrete case-by-case evaluation is required at this point.

Legal remedies, reasoned decision and judicial holiday

If an individual has resorted to the path of objection, appeal or cassation, the period for individual application will begin after these paths have been exhausted. However, what is important at this point is the date of learning the result of the ordinary means of appeal; that is, the individual application must be made within thirty days after the notification of the decision of the Court of Cassation or the decision of appeal.

The court's decision will be explained and the reasoning will be written later, the individual application period will begin after the reasoned decision is served, because in order for an effective application to be made to the Constitutional Court, the reasoning of the decision must be known; this stage is of great importance.

Service delivery date may coincide with judicial holiday period. However, the period for individual application to the Constitutional Court is not subject to judicial holiday; even if judicial holiday falls within the application period, this period continues to run.

Learning through UYAP

The Constitutional Court's decision numbered 2020/2256, dated January 18, 2023, has emphasized the following:

The Constitutional Court has determined the constitutional principles to be applied in the Hüseyin Aşkan case (Case No: 2017/15649, 21/7/2020), which is similar in nature to the facts and circumstances of the case at hand. The judgment emphasizes that UYAP system users can access the information and documents that are relevant to them, and that they can conduct all kinds of information and document exchange. It is also stated that all these procedures are recorded in the database, and that the procedures performed on documents/papers are recorded in the UYAP document procedure register. In this context, an examination of the UYAP document procedure register revealed that the date on which the applicant's representative detected that the final decision was opened and read, and the date on which the result of the final decision was learned, was accepted as the starting date for the individual application period, and it was concluded that the application was time-barred and therefore inadmissible.

It has been determined that since the final decision was read by the applicant's attorney via UYAP on 5/12/2019 and the application was made after the thirty-day period for individual applications had expired, a decision must be made that the application is inadmissible due to statute of limitations.

References

• The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey
• Constitutional Court — anayasa.gov.tr
• Constitutional Court Internal Rules — anayasa.gov.tr/tr/mevzuat/ictuzuk
• Hikmet Murat Akkaya, "A Constitutional Requirement for Exhaustion of Remedies as a Condition for Admissibility in Individual Applications to the Constitutional Court" titled thesis
• Article by Talha Yayla — talhayayla.av.tr
• When Does the Time Limit for Individual Application to the Constitutional Court Begin? — drgokhangunes.com
• Constitutional Court, B. No: 2019/13338, R.G. Date and Number: 16/5/2023-32192 — kararlarbilgibankasi.anayasa.gov.tr