Bulletin of the Constitutional Court
1/2015
15 March – the Constitution Day of the Republic of Belarus. Introductory Article by Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus Petr P. Miklashevich
  • Official Materials and Decisions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus
Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus of January 20, 2015 No. D-975/2015 «On Constitutional Legality in the Republic of Belarus in 2014»
Message of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus to the President of the Republic of Belarus, the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus «On Constitutional Legality in the Republic of Belarus in 2014»
Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus of January 20, 2015 No. D-976/2015 «On the conformity of the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On Making Addenda and Alterations to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus on Combating Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, their Precursors or Analogues» to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus»
  • Scientific Information
Chigrinov S.P. Constitutional Identity in the Context of European Integration
 The stages of development of the mechanism of interaction between national and supranational legal systems are reviewed. The contents of the principle of communitarian law supremacy, the counter-limits doctrine, the concept of European identity are determined on the ground of analysis of communitarian law and regulations of the European Court of Justice and constitutional courts of the EU member-states.
It is concluded that constitutional identity is conditioned by the norms and principles of the Constitution, which have an absolute character, in the sense that they can not be modified or neutralized by any instrument of a supranational legal system.
It is suggested that the concept of European constitutional identity may be developed on the basis of convergence of the concepts of European identity and constitutional identity, as well as that constitutional identity plays an important role in formation of mechanisms to ensure the balance between the interests of the States participating in the Eurasian integration.
Podgrusha V.V. Improvement of Indirect Access of Individuals and Organisations to Constitutional Justice: Ways of Solution
The article deals with issues of indirect access to constitutional justice in terms of legal regulation and mechanism of implementation in the absence of the institute of the constitutional complaint. The author analyses in detail legal regulation of relations connected with making proposals to the Constitutional Court by the authorised bodies on the basis of initiative applications of individuals, including individual entrepreneurs and organisations, in the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Constitutional Proceedings”. On the basis of the fact that the established mechanism of consideration of initiative applications does not ensure in full the effectiveness of indirect access the author outlines possible directions of its improvement.
Voronovich T.V. Constitutional and Legal Content of the Principles of the Criminal Procedure
The author analyses the constitutional and legal content of the principles of the criminal procedure that determine its nature, character, structure and requirements for participants in the criminal procedure. The author concludes that implementation of the constitutional rules and principles in the criminal procedure is aimed at guaranteeing constitutional rights and freedoms of an individual, ensuring the rule of law and legal order.
Tikhinya V.G., Stepanenko D.M. The Role of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus in the Formation of Innovative Legislation: Problems and Ways of their Solution
The authors examinepossibilities of practical implementationof the constitutional right to innovation activity in economy and society. A number of suggested addenda to the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus focused on innovation development of the Belarusian society are grounded in this article.
Maslovskaya T.S. Prospects for Development of the Casual Constitutional Review in the Republic of Belarus
The author analyses the casual constitutional review as a kind of indirect access for individuals to the constitutional justice. Distinctive features of the casual constitutional review in the Republic of Belarus, its differences from the European model of objection of unconstitutionality (prejudicial question of constitutionality). Attention is drawn to the gaps in legal regulation of this field. In order to improve accessfor individualsto constitutional justice and to deal with the identified gaps in legal regulation the author makes suggestions for improving the mechanism for implementing the casual constitutional review in the Republic of Belarus, including the improvement of the legislative mechanism ofimplementation of Article 112.2 of the Constitution.
Ostapovich I.Y. The Role of the Constitutional Review Bodies of the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation in Ensuring Unity of Interpretation of the Constitutional Provisions and their Application by Courts

The article deals with issues of interpretation of constitutional provisions by constitutional review bodies in the former Soviet Union on the example of such countries as Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. Both similar and distinctive features of the mentioned bodies in settlement of cases in point are defined. Similarity is revealed in general approaches of interpretation of the constitution by bodies of the constitutional review of these states. Moreover, the author shows similar features in the mechanism of ensuring unity of interpretation of constitutional provisions and their due application by courts. A distinctive sign is that the specialised bodies of the constitutional review in Belarus and in Russia are constitutional courts and in Kazakhstan this function is carried out by the Constitutional Council. It is noted that the merging of the supreme courts in Belarus and the Russian Federation will promote formation of unity of due application.