Whether the national courts can always apply the Charter of Fundamental Rights of European Union in the process of litigation?

Išaugęs Europos Sąjungos narių skaičius, su tuo susiję nauji pokyčiai, poreikis spręsti bendrus valstybių narių klausimus įtakojo ir Europos Sąjungos teisinės bazės pokyčius. Vienas iš tokių – Lisabonos sutarties dėka nuo 2009 m. gruodžio 1 d. įsigaliojusi Europos Sąjungos pagrindinių teisių chartija (toliau – ir Chartija), pagal savo teisinę galią turinti tokį pat teisinį statusą, kaip ir kitos Europos Sąjungos sutartys. Šį teisės aktą galima laikyti Europos Sąjungos piliečių pagrindinių teisių katalogu. Praėjus beveik septyneriems Chartijos galiojimo ir taikymo metams jau susiklostė tam tikra jos taikymo praktika. Šio teisės akto svarba vis didėja, Chartija yra vis plačiau taikoma ir cituojama tiek Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismo, tiek nacionalinių teismų sprendimuose. Tačiau pažymėtina ir tai, kad dėl Chartijos taikymo dar vis išlieka daug neišspręstų klausimų. Vienas iš tokių – Chartijos taikymo ribų apibrėžtumas nacionaliniams teismams. Šiuo atveju aktualus Chartijos 51(1) straipsnis, pagal kurį Chartijos nuostatos yra skirtos valstybėms narėms tik tais atvejais, kai šios įgyvendina Sąjungos teisę. Atlikto tyrimo pagrindu darbe pateikiamos išvados, leidžiančios atsakyti į klausimą, ar nacionaliniai teismai spręsdami ginčą gali visada taikyti Chartiją. Išsiaiškinta, kad Lisabonos sutarties dėka Chartijos nuostatos tapo pirminiu ES teisės šaltiniu visoms valstybėms narėms, tame tarpe – ir Lietuvai. Chartiją galima laikyti Europos Sąjungos piliečių pagrindinių teisių katalogu, veiksmingu gynybos standartu. Nacionalinių teismų sprendimų, kuriuose cituojama Chartija, didėjimas ir sparta, o taip pat daugėjimas atvejų, kai nacionaliniai teismai kreipiasi į ESTT su prašymu pateikti prejudicinį sprendimą, pabrėžia Chartijos svarbą. Po Chartijos įsigaliojimo Europos Sąjungos Teisingumo Teismas iš esmės naujos praktikos, susijusios su Chartijos taikymu, nesuformulavo. Teisingumo Teismas laikosi tendencijos, kad Chartijoje įtvirtintos pagrindinės teisės yra taikomos tiesiogiai, tačiau tik Chartijos 51 straipsnio nuostatose nustatytomis sąlygomis. Teisingumo Teismo gairės nacionaliniams teismams dėl Chartijos taikymo dar tik plėtojamos ir kintančios. Šiame darbe nurodytais atvejais nacionaliniai teismai (tame tarpe ir Lietuvos) Chartiją taiko ir tais atvejais, kai ginčas nėra susijęs su Europos Sąjungos teise. Todėl darbe iškelta hipotezė, kad nacionaliniai teismai visada gali taikyti Chartijos nuostatas, net ir tada, kai ginčas neturi jokios vienareikšmės sąsajos su ES teise, liko nepaneigta. Darbe nacionaliniams teismams pateikiamas pasiūlymas, susijęs su naujomis Chartijos taikymo tendencijomis.An increased number of the European Union members, changes that are related to that, and a need to solve the issues common for the member states, have also influenced the changes of the European Union legal base. One of them is the Charter of the fundamental rights of the European Union (hereinafter - the Charter) that came in effect on 1 December 2009 because of the Lisbon agreement, according to its legal power it has the same legal status as the other agreements of the European Union. This legal act can be considered as the fundamental rights catalogue for the European Union citizens. After almost seven years of the Charter being in effect and applied have passed, the certain practice of its application, understanding of its meaning, scope of application and limits have already formed. However the fact that many unsolved issues, regarding the application of the Charter still remain, should be noted as well. One of such is the certainty of the Charter application limits for the national courts. In this case the article 51(1) of the Charter is relevant, according to it the provisions of the Charter is intended for member states only in cases, when they are implementing the Union Law. That means that according to the legal regulation of the Charter, national courts of member states essentially can apply the Charter only in case, when the threat for the legal provisions of the EU arises, but when considering the disputes that are solely related to the national Law, they are not obliged to apply the Charter, and should rely on the national constitutional provisions that ensure the protection of the fundamental human rights, as well as on the international agreements for human rights, under which the member state has assumed the obligations. That means that the Charter should be essentially applied by the national courts when there is an unambiguous link between the dispute (legal relation) and the European Union Law. However, arises the question, does the national court that wants to substantiate its decision in the specific situation with the provisions of the Charter must necessarily separate the areas of the application of the EU and the national law, and vice-a-versa – when solving the dispute has the right to chose, whether to apply the Charter or not, regardless of the fact that the dispute that is being considered has no legal relation with the EU Law. Because of this reason, it was tried in this thesis to determine, whether the national courts can apply the Charter, when they are solving the dispute, the beginning of the research is deemed the date on which Charter came in effect, i. e. the 1st of December 2009. By applying various research methods and after performing the analysis of the legislation, case practice, reports and other documents, it was determined that, due to the Lisbon convention the Charter became an entirely different document on 1 December 2009, with the same legal influence and power as the other main agreements of the EU. This way the provisions of the Charter became the primary source of the EU Law for all member states, Lithuania included. The Charter can be considered the catalogue of the fundamental rights for the citizens of the European Union. But the Charter fails to consider the new rights. The fundamental rights recognised by the Charter in their essence match the general principles of Law of the Union, and the same rules that are formed with respect to these principles, apply to them. The Charter – a new challenge for member states on which falls the main responsibility for the implementation of the EU legislation. The important role in the monitoring of how they adhere to the provisions of the Charter when applying the EU Law, is performed by the courts of member states. The application scope of the charter provisions is defined for the national courts as well as the other national subjects. That means that according to the legal regulation the court can apply the provisions of the Charter only, when there is an unambiguous link between the dispute and the EU Law. Charter interpretation and application practice that is formed by the CJEU, helps to prevent that. The growth of the national court decisions in which the Charter is quoted, and its rate, as well as increase of cases, when national courts contacted CJEU with the request to provide a preliminary ruling, emphasize the importance of the Charter. After the Charter came into effect the Court of Justice of the European Union essentially did not form a new practice related to the application of the Charter. The Court of Justice of the European Union maintains the trend that the fundamental rights that are enshrined in the Charter are applicable directly, but only according to the conditions that are specified in the article 51 of the Charter, i. e. in the application scope of the EU Law. The Court of Justice of the European Union also presents new guidelines to the national courts, by presenting more precise interpretation of the article 51 of the Charter. Although these new guidelines are still changing and in development. After the Charter came in effect, the national courts relied on the provisions of the Charter by applying them directly. That is in case of the unambiguous link of the dispute to the European Union Law. Later new trends of the Charter provision application can be seen in the decisions of the national courts. Those are the following cases: when the court seeks to substantiate its arguments with the provisions of the Charter, and not only when the case is related to the EU Law; when the Charter is the consultation source of Law that provides an inspiration. Also should be noted that the Charter was included in the national systems for the protection of the fundamental rights. Several tendencies of the Charter application can be discerned in the jurisprudence of the Lithuanian courts: when provisions of the Charter are applied directly, i. e. when there is a direct link with the EU Law; when the Charter is the source for the interpretation of the national as well as the EU law; when the Charter is used to check the arguments of the procedural party; when the provisions of the Charter are applied as supplementary for other provisions of EU and international Law; when the Charter is used to check the arguments of the procedural party; when the provisions of the Charter is the expression of the cooperation with the CJEU, when applying to the CJEU for the declaration of the preliminary ruling. By summarising all conclusions that were made in the thesis it was held that in all cases specified in the conclusions of this thesis the national courts can apply the Charter far outside its application scope, i. e. not necessarily when the dispute is directly related to the EU Law. Therefore there is no possibility to disprove the hypothesis presented in this thesis that the national courts can always apply the provisions of the Charter, even when the dispute has no unambiguous link to the EU Law