On 27 April 2022, in the case ref. no. K 12/20, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the provision of Article 40 clause 3 and clause 4 of the Act on Municipal Self-Government, to the extent to which it restricts the competence of the municipality to enact enforcement regulations only with respect to the matter in which there is no statutory regulation, is consistent with the Constitution.
The case was initiated by a motion filed by Leszno Town Council. The application has challenged the above-mentioned regulations to the extent in which they make it impossible to pass enforcement regulations threatened with a fine imposed according to the procedure and principles specified in the misdemeanour law due to the fact that this issue is regulated in a separate act in regulations that are not, however, of a criminal law nature, despite the fact that the passing of enforcement regulations is necessary for the protection of life or health of citizens and for the assurance of public order, peace and security, and the passing of regulations of a criminal law nature is justified, with Article 16 clause 2 and Article 166 clause 1 and 2 of the Constitution.
Referring to this allegation, the Constitutional Tribunal has stated that the constitutional concept of local government as an independent entity performing a significant part of public tasks in its own name and on its own responsibility (Article 16 Paragraph 2 of the Constitution), requires that the local government bodies be given as much freedom (independence) as possible in the shaping of local laws, which translates into the construction of statutory authorisation to enact them. However, in the opinion of the Constitutional Tribunal, the wording of Article 94 of the Constitution provides grounds to recognise that the system-institute has introduced the principle of the supremacy (primacy) of the law in relation to acts of local law. Local government bodies issue acts of local law binding in the area of their activity on the basis and within the limits of authorisations contained in a statute. The legislator is therefore authorised to determine the matters to be regulated in the act of local law. As a rule, this is done by indicating the matters delegated for regulation. However, the Constitution does not preclude the legislator from entrusting the local government bodies with the general competence to enact legal regulations aimed at counteracting the threats to life, health or property, as well as the public peace in the area of their activity, provided that such regulations are consistent with the principle of proportionality and it is not possible to effectively counteract such threats on the grounds of the existing statutory norms.