XVI. Congress of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts
Cooperation of Constitutional Courts in Europe -
Current Situation and Perspectives
National Report by the State Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein
Author: Univ.-Doz. Dr. Peter Bussjüger, Judge at the State Court of the Principality of
Liechtenstein and Research Fellow Law at the Liechtenstein Institute, Bendern
In the following text, the questions asked are answered from the point of view of the State
Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein.
I. Constitutional courts between constitutional law and European law!
1. Is the constitutional court obliged by law to consider European law in the
performance of its tasks?
Such an obligation exists in various ways, namely as a result of Liechtenstein's membership to
the EEA, to the Schengen Area, its association in the field of application of the Dublin
Regulation, and Liechtenstein's membership to the ECHR. It is important to note that as a
result of the uncontested monistic understanding of international law in Liechtenstein,
international law applies directly?, which is of particular importance for the EEA (see right
below).
EEA Agreement
The Agreement on the EEA (EEAA) leads to an obligation of Member States to apply EEA
law, which among other things includes the obligation to transpose Directives into national
law and to apply regulations directly. The State Court has ruled very early that "EEA law —
! In the present context, "European law" is understood to mean the law of the European Union, the law of the
European Economic Area (EEA), the Schengen/Dublin acquis, and the law of the Council of Europe, in particular
the European Convention on Human Rights.
? To this effect StGH 1995/14, cons. 1.4 = LES 1996, p. 119 — 124 (p. 122); see also Daniel Thürer, Liechtenstein
und die Vólkerrechtsordnung, Archiv des Vólkerrechts vol. 36 issue 2 1998, p. 98 — 127 (p. 109); Peter
Bussjáger, Rechtsfragen des Vorrangs und der Anwendbarkeit von EWR-Recht in Liechtenstein,
Liechtensteinische Juristen-Zeitung 2006, p. 140 — 146 (p. 140 et seq.).