Information regarding the regulatory resolution of the Constitutional Court
(№ 50 of 26 July 2024)
The Constitutional Court considered citizens' appeals concerning the verification of the conformity with paragraph 2 of Article 13 and Article 14 of the Constitution of subparagraph 13) of paragraph one of Article 616 of the Tax Code.
According to the contested norm of the Tax law, from paying State duty on all cases and documents are exempted the plaintiffs, who are:
In the opinion of the subjects of appeal, who are defendants in civil cases, the said norm of the Tax Code infringes their constitutional right to access to justice when appealing court acts in cassation procedure. To clarify, when appealing a court decision to the cassation instance, it puts them in an unequal procedural position with plaintiffs, who are exempted by law from paying state duty for the same actions due to the similar status of socially vulnerable persons.
The Constitutional Court has previously stated in its final judgements that equality of all before the law and the court means equal protection of human rights by the state and equal responsibility of everyone before the law, unity of requirements for the performance of duties. Laws may not establish differences in the rights of persons that have no objective and reasonable justification. Under equal conditions, subjects of law must be in an equal legal position. The implementation of this constitutional principle predetermines equality in the methods of protection and restoration of violated rights and freedoms on the basis of the unity of substantive and procedural norms.
The Republic of Kazakhstan, having proclaimed itself a social state, has made commitments to mitigate social inequalities and provide support to people with disabilities and other persons who, due to certain life circumstances, require assistance from the state. This includes the right of access to justice, namely the defence of one's rights in court.
Thus, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, the approach established in subparagraph 13) of paragraph one of Article 616 of the Tax Code, which divides citizens by their procedural position at the stage of cassation appeal, while they have the same social status, has no reasonable and objective justification and contains signs of inequality in legal remedies.
It is necessary to apply a unified legislative approach at the stage of cassation appeal for the persons in question, considering their social status.
Based on the above, the Constitutional Court recognised subparagraph 13) of part one of Article 616 in correlation with part two of the same Article of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ‘On taxes and other obligatory payments to the budget’ (Tax Code) is not in conformity with the Constitution in terms of the use of the word ‘plaintiffs - ’.