international treaties for conformity with the Constitution“. The State Court emphasises in its
practice that it was obviously not the objective of the revision of the Constitution to weaken
the protection of the fundamental freedoms of individuals. In addition, the State Court has
also ruled that the catalogue of international treaties that are subject to individual complaints
before the State Court has been extended through the STGHG.?
It must be emphasised that as a result of the de facto constitutional status of the ECHR, any
persons concerned may not just call upon the guarantees of the ECHR with regard to acts of
the executive branch pursuant to Art. 15 (2)(a) StGHG; rather, these guarantees form a
standard of review for legal rules, regardless of the fundamental rights directly granted by the
Constitution.
The following examples from the practice of the State Court serve to clarify what has been
said above; they certainly do not constitute a full catalogue of references to the ECHR in the
State Court's practice:
ECHR as a standard of review for laws:
In the application for the review of rules with the file no. StGH 2012/198, the Liechtenstein
Administrative Court of Justice (the supreme instance in administrative proceedings) pleaded
that the rule subject to review of Art. 88 Abs. 4 ALVG” was not conformal with the review
of the facts by the "tribunal" demanded by Art. 6 ECHR.
The challenged rule translated as follows:
"Complaints to the Administrative Court of Justice may only be directed against unlawful
handling and execution or against findings of fact that are contrary to the record or
incomplete."
The State Court reviewed the challenged rule not only on the basis of the practice of the
ECtHR concerning Art. 6 ECHR and the demanded cognisance and review but also on the
basis of the right of complaint (Art. 43 LV) granted by the Liechtenstein Constitution
? Cf. Art. 104 (2) LV. See also in this context: Günther Winkler, Die Verfassungsreform in Liechtenstein (2003),
p. 322 et sqq.
? StGH 2004/45, cons. 2.1; StGH 2005/89, www.gerichtsentscheide.li, cons. 4.
^ Gesetz über die Arbeitslosenversicherung und die Insolvenzentschüdigung (Act on Unemployment Insurance
and Insolvency Compensation), LGBI. 2010 no. 452.