For the first time, the Constitutional Court has published a list of unresolved cases in the area of normative review – a list of laws and by-laws whose constitutionality and legality have been challenged. A total of 351 such cases have been registered, including challenges to 161 laws and 187 by-laws. The oldest pending case dates back to 2018.

Human Rights Action welcomes this important step towards full transparency in the work of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro. The publication of this list allows the public easy access to information on which regulations have been called into question, which is of particular importance for the legal profession, institutions, and citizens who depend on the application of regulations whose quality has been challenged.

This decision represents a significant shift towards understanding that the Constitutional Court performs a public service in the interest of citizens, and that part of this service is ensuring that the public is informed about the matters brought before the Court and the order in which they will be addressed.

We expect the Constitutional Court to continue along this progressive path – by regularly announcing the agenda of each session and by publishing a list of pending constitutional appeals, including the order in which they will be resolved.

As early as 2014, when the Court was presided over by Desanka Lopičić, Human Rights Action was the first to propose the publication of such a list and a case resolution plan. Today’s decision shows that the usefulness of this proposal has finally been recognised and accepted – to the benefit of legal certainty and public trust.