Constitutional Court pronounces Government’s Decree on stopping Jadar project unconstitutional

The Constitutional Court of Serbia has announced that, at the session held on July 11, it reached the decision determining that the Government’s Decree on canceling the Jadar project, which entails the mining of lithium, “is not in accordance with the Constitution and law.”

The Court adopted the decision determining that the Decree on the termination of the validity of the Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area for the realization of the Jadar project of the exploitation and processing of the jadarite mineral is not in line with the Constitution and law, it is said on the website of the Court.

– In the Decision which, in line with the Constitution, is published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, the Constitutional Court assesses that, from the constitutionally defined jurisdiction of the Government and the legal stipulations which regulate spatial planning, it cannot be concluded that the Government was not authorized to adopt the Decree on the termination of the validity of the Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area, but it does determine that the Government exceeded the limits of its authority by adopting the Decree in a way which is not in accordance with Article 3 of the Constitution and the stipulations of the Law on the Government and the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment. The Constitutional Court especially emphasizes that, with the adopted Decision, the previously adopted Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area from 2020 “is not revived”, and the constitutional authority, that is, the right and the duty of the Government to set and implement policies and to decide on the further realization of the project in question, in accordance with the Constitution and law, is not questioned – says the announcement of the Constitutional Court.

With this Decree, which the Constitutional Court has now pronounced unconstitutional, the Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area for the realization of the Jadar project of the exploitation and processing of the jadarite mineral had stopped being valid.

– The competent authorities will, without delay, annul all the individual acts adopted for the purpose of the realization of the Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area for the realization of the Jadar project of the exploitation and processing of the jadarite mineral. The competent authorities will, without delay, stop all the procedures which have been started based on the Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special-Purpose Area for the realization of the Jadar project of the exploitation and processing of the jadarite mineral – says the Decree which the Constitutional Court has now pronounced unconstitutional.

Ustavni sud Republike Srbije

Constitutional Court of Serbia

Decree on the termination of the validity of the Decree on determining the Spatial Plan of the Special Purpose Area for the realization of the Jadar project of the exploitation and processing of the jadarite mineral

Jadar

lithium