The Constitutional Court announced on Tuesday that the Law on the Procedure of Extraordinary Administration in Companies of Systemic Importance for the Republic of Croatia, better known as lex Agrokor, is in accordance with the Constitution.
From the materials received by journalists before the press conference of the President of the Constitutional Court Miroslav Šeparović, it follows that the proposals to initiate proceedings for the assessment of more provisions of this law, the constitutionality of which was challenged by a total of 12 proposers – natural and legal persons – were not accepted.
The Court, in the constitutional proceedings, also obtained five statements from the Government, as well as an expert opinion from the Department of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law in Zagreb. Three constitutional judges provided separate opinions.
>>>The Constitutional Court will announce a decision on the constitutionality of lex Agrokor tomorrow
The Croatian Parliament adopted the contested law on April 6 last year. According to it, a company is considered systemically important if it employs more than five thousand workers and has liabilities greater than seven and a half billion kuna. The law regulates the procedure of extraordinary administration, whose bodies are the court, the extraordinary commissioner, the advisory body, and the creditors’ council.
The aim of the law is to achieve a settlement among creditors regarding the future of the company’s operations so that it can continue to operate in a sustainable and stable manner. The Government proposes an extraordinary commissioner who is then approved and determined by the Commercial Court in Zagreb, either at the request of the debtor itself or at the request of the creditors, but with the consent of the debtor.
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Based on the Law on the Procedure of Extraordinary Administration in Companies of Systemic Importance for the Republic of Croatia, the process of extraordinary administration in Agrokor was initiated. Ante Ramljak was appointed as the commissioner, and after his departure, Fabris Peruško took over that position.
At the Government session from which the legislative proposal was sent to the Parliament, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković emphasized that the Law respects the Croatian Constitution, the inviolability of property rights, as well as the freedom of entrepreneurship,
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However, after its adoption, several requests for the assessment of constitutionality arrived at the Constitutional Court. The first was raised four days after its adoption by Goran Vojković, a doctor of legal sciences and media analyst.
He believes that lex Agrokor is contrary to the article of the Constitution that describes entrepreneurial and market freedom as the foundation of the economic system and prescribes that the state ensures equal legal status for all entrepreneurs in the market. In addition to believing that lex Agrokor places others in an unequal position, Vojković also emphasizes that laws should be written for “general and future situations, not for a specific company.”
The proposal for the assessment of constitutionality was also submitted by the founder and owner of Agrokor, Ivica Todorić, claiming that his constitutional and fundamental human rights were violated.
