Regulation of preliminary constitutional review in the post-Soviet states (comparative legal analysis and evaluation of development prospects in Russia)

About the authors:

Еlena L. Ivanova, Cand. Sci. (Jur.), Associate Professor, Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Baikal State University (Irkutsk); lenai@list.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-2733-150X

Aleksey A. Petrov, Dr. Sci. (Jur.), Professor, Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Baikal State University (Irkutsk); petrov-a-irk@mail.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-2009-0627

Abstract:

The issues of preliminary constitutional review are not thoroughly researched in the scientific field of constitutional law mainly due to relatively small volume of relevant practice both in the Russian Federation and in affairs of competent bodies of foreign states. At the same time, the changes in the legal regulation of the powers of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which occurred within the framework of the constitutional reform of 2020, indicated once again the relevance of the study of preliminary constitutional review. Whereas prior to these transformations the competence of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in the field of preliminary review encompassed only international treaties (of the Russian Federation) that did not enter into force and issues on referendums of the Russian Federation, now it also includes verification of the constitutionality of federal legislative acts of all types, including laws on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation prior to their promulgation. In this regard, it seems important to refer to the relevant experience of other countries and above all of those that are historically and geographically close to the Russian Federation. The article provides a brief overview of the concepts of preliminary constitutional review developed in constitutional and legal science, its merits and controversial points. Using the comparative legal method, the authors investigate the state of constitutional and legislative regulation of preliminary constitutional review carried out by constitutional courts and other similar bodies of the post-Soviet states. The subject of the analysis includes approaches to determining the objects of such review, as well as practice and features of the regulation of the constitutional review procedures under study. Despite the sufficient development and high quality of legal regulation of these issues in the Russian Federation, the authors come to a conclusion that it is advisable to adopt certain aspects from the relevant experience of the states from the former USSR.

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