The proceedings were initiated following a request from the authorised representative of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus to the Constitutional Court – First Deputy Minister of Justice Natalya Filippova (hereinafter referred to as the authorised representative) for an official interpretation of the Constitutional Court's decision of 26 June 2025 No. Р-1309/2025 «On the Constitutionality of Article 12 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On the Fundamentals of the System for the Prevention of Child Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency» on the Individual Complaint of Valiantsina M. Yemelyanovich» (hereinafter referred to as the decision of 26 June 2025).

The authorised representative stated that by the decision of 26 June 2025 the Council of Ministers was required to submit to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, no later than three months after the decision was made, a draft law amending the Law of the Republic of Belarus of 31 May 2003 No. 200-З «On the Fundamentals of the System for the Prevention of Child Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency» (hereinafter referred to as the Law No. 200-З).

It was noted that during the preparation of the draft law amending the Law No. 200-З, ambiguities were identified in the understanding of the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the optimal approach to implementing individuals' constitutional right to judicial protection, guaranteed by Articles 7, 21, and 60 of the Constitution, fully consistent with the constitutional principle of the rule of law.

According to the authorised representative, given the priority of establishing effective mechanisms to ensure rights and freedoms, the right of everyone, enshrined in Article 60 of the Constitution, to the protection of the rights and freedoms by a competent, independent and impartial court under the procedure and within the time limits specified by law, can be implemented under any law, including the Law No. 200-З, the Code of Civil Judicial Procedure of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the CCJP), the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Local Government and Self-Government in the Republic of Belarus”, etc.

On 1 January 2026 amendments to the legislation on civil procedure came into force. These amendments changed the procedure for filing an appeal against the actions (inaction) of a government body or official vested with state and other public powers, and led to a clear understanding and application of legal provisions regarding the possibility of filing such an appeal.

In its decision the Constitutional Court noted that, following the consideration of the case "On the Constitutionality of Article 12 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On the Fundamentals of the System for the Prevention of Child Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency» on the Individual Complaint of Valiantsina M. Yemelyanovich” the Constitutional Court concluded that the applicant's constitutional right to judicial protection (Article 60 of the Constitution) had been violated.

When finding the provisions of Article 12 of the Law No. 200-З to be inconsistent with Articles 7, 21, and 60 of the Constitution to the extent that, in violation of the principle of the rule of law, these provisions fail to ensure citizens' exercise of their constitutional right to judicial protection, the Constitutional Court proceeded from the premise that the legislator, by granting juvenile affairs commissions the power to apply measures against minors, their parents, and other persons, should have provided in the Law No. 200-З a legal framework that, in the event of a violation of the rights and freedoms of these persons, would ensure their protection in court, including appealing against the decisions of juvenile affairs commissions to the courts.

The said conclusion of the Constitutional Court was based, among other things, on the identified constitutional and legal content of the legislative norms that, at the time of consideration of the individual complaint of Valiantsina M. Yemelyanovich, regulated the specifics of consideration and resolution of complaints against decisions, actions (inaction) of state bodies and other legal entities, as well as organisations that are not legal entities, and officials that infringe on the rights of citizens (paragraph 6 of Chapter 29 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus).

With the entry into force of the CCJP on 1 January 2026, the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) is declared invalid.

According to Article 351 of the CCJP, courts shall consider cases arising from administrative and other public legal relations on challenging (invalidating) non-regulatory legal acts of state bodies, other bodies (commissions), organisations, and officials vested with state or other public powers that are inconsistent with the legislation and violate the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of citizens, or the rights and legitimate interests of legal entities, including appeals against non-regulatory legal acts listed in part 1 of the said article. Part 5 of Article 351 of the CCJP provides that courts shall consider other cases arising from administrative and other public legal relations in cases stipulated by legislative acts.

In view of the above, the Constitutional Court has decided:

paragraph 2 of the operative part of the Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus of 26 June 2025 No. Р-1309/2025 «On the Constitutionality of Article 12 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On the Fundamentals of the System for the Prevention of Child Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency» on the Individual Complaint of Valiantsina M. Yemelyanovich» requires the elaboration by the authorised state body and legal consolidation of such a mechanism for regulating the exercise of everyone's constitutional right to judicial protection in the event of appeals against decisions of juvenile commissions that will ensure unconditional and unimpeded access to justice for citizens, including taking into account law enforcement practice;

from the moment of its entry into force, this decision shall be in force in conjunction with the Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus of 26 June 2025 No. Р-1309/2025, which has been officially interpreted.