Venice Commission - Observatory on emergency situations
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Disclaimer: this information was gathered by the Secretariat of the Venice Commission on the basis of contributions by the members of the Venice Commission, and complemented with information available from various open sources (academic articles, legal blogs, official information web-sites etc.).
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15. Was the state of emergency prolonged? For how long? Was the prolongation subject and submitted to parliamentary control? Was it subject and submitted to judicial review?
The Council of Ministers announced the state of natural disaster in the entire territory of the Republic of Albania with Decision no. 243, dated 24.3.2020 "On the declaration of the state of natural disaster", for a period of 30 days from the moment of entry into force. On 23.4.2020, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania through decision no. 18/2020 "On granting consent for the extension of the state of natural disaster", decided to extend until 23.06.2020 the state of natural disaster.
The state of emergency was prolonged for three times2 each time for 30 days. See also the answers to Q4 and Q5.
The constitution does not provide for a specuak declaration of the state of emergency; the Government was acting on the basis of the pre-existing legislation on epidemic control, as amended during the crisis.
Not applicable (no delcaration of the state of emergency)
Not applicable
As indicated in Q1 and Q5, in Bosnia and Herzegovina only the Republika Srpska formally declared a state of emergency (Decision of 28 March 2020). Some countries in the region provide for different rules on the state of emergency - for example, in the Republic of Serbia Article 200 of the Constitution stipulates that the Decision on the state of emergency lasts a maximum of 90 days. By contrast, Article 70 of the Constitution of the Republic of Srpska, which served as the legal basis for the Decision on the introduction of the state of emergency, does not specify the duration of this special regime. After the initial decision, the National Assembly, at its session held on 21 May 2020, passed the Decision on the abolition of the state of emergency in the Republika Srpska. At the level the Federation of BiH, emergency measures have no "expiry date" either. By the decision of the Government of the Federation of BiH, the state of disaster caused by the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the territory of the Federation of BiH ended on 31 May 2020. years.
The National Assembly declared the state of emergency on the grounds of Art. 84, item 12 of the Constitution first for 1 month and then it was prolonged for another month. The Council of Ministers on 14 May after the end of the state of emergency declared an emergency epidemic situation for the period of one month by Decision No 325, on the basis of the amended Health Act. The epidemic situation has been extended 6 times in a row and according to the last Decision No 673 from 25 September, it was extended until the end of November. The prolongations were not subject to judicial review.
Not applicable - no declaration of the State of emergency
The original state of emergency declaration was made by the Government. The extensions of the state of emergency were made by acts of the Chamber of Deputies and, as such, they constituted in themselves acts of parliamentary control. On 23 February 2021 the Municipal Court in Prague declared the declaration of the (new) state of emergency by the government unconstitutional. The government had not secured agreement for the continuation of the original state of emergency from the National Assembly, so it had decided to declare a new state of emergency for 2 weeks. However, it appears that the court has no competence to abolish the state of emergency, so the validity of the Government declaration remains unclear.
The Danish constitutional order does not provide for any special regime, so no declaration was made in relation to the COVID-19 crisis. The Government used powers it had under the ordinary law on infectious diseases, as amended in March 2020.
The Law 2020-290 of 23 March 2020 (creating the state of health emergency) empowered the executive to act by ordinance on certain subjects.
In the Hungarian constitutional framework, it has been the competence of the Government to declare or terminate a state of danger. The decree declaring the state of danger does not have a „sunset clause” i.e. the state of danger is in place until the threat that caused the introduction of the special legal order has ceased to exist. Thus, if the conditions for the declaration no longer exist, the Government is obliged by the provisions of the FL to terminate the state of danger by a governmental decree.
No state of emergency has been declared.
For the moment it has not been prolonged
Not applicable (see Q1 - martial law was not decalred (see Article 77 of the Constitution) and the President did not use the power (under Article 76) to legislate through emergency decrees
The state of emergency was imposed for certain regions by presidential decrees from 24 March to 15 April, and the state of emergency was extended until 30 April, and for certain localities until 10 May 2020. The President’s decrees both on the proclamation of a state of emergency and on the extension of a state of emergency are subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Consequently, all the Presidential Acts on the declaration of a state of emergency and its extension have been approved by the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic. None of the President’s decrees imposing a state of emergency has been subject to judicial review. This is because the Constitutional Chamber has not been requested to review those decrees, and the Constitutional Chamber does not have the power to review constitutionally the laws, acts of the President and the Parliament on its own initiative.
As no state of emergency was declared, none was extended. The legsilation adopted during the ciris (Act of 8 April 2020 on Accompanying Administrative and Judicial Measures in Connection with the Coronavirus (COVID-19) (COVID-19 VJBG) (LGBl 2020/Nr. 136) has a sunset clause - it will be in force until 15 June 2020.
The state of emergency (provided for in the Constitution) was not declared; instead, the nationwide situation of emergency was declared in Lithuania, as well as the third level of alert for the civil protection system, and the quarantine regime was introduced in the entire territory of the Republic of Lithuania by the government decree No 207 of 14 March 2020 (with subsequent amendments).
Not applicanble - the state of emergency was not declared and the governemnt was using its powers under the ordinary legislation on health risks
The state of emergency declaration is not provided by the constitution and was not, therefore, introduced. However, certain ministerial measures have been temporarily extended.
Yes; four times; No, no parliamentary control because the extension was by decree; No, it was not subject to judicial review although this is possible.
No state of emergency was declared (since this mechanism is not provided in the Constitution), but the duration of the Corona Act (see Q13) was prolonged for one additional month.
As of June 2020, the state of emergency has been extended five times. So, in total there has been six decrees on the state of emergency (March 16th, March 27th, April 10th, April 25th, May 10th, and May 23th).
The declaration of the state of emergency by the President of the Republic fixed the duration of fifteen days, and was renewed twice by the President of the Republic, with minor changes, for periods of fifteen days; the renewal procedure is the same as the procedure for the declaration.
No, the state of emergency was not prolonged beyond the 90-days' period
No, the state of emergency declared in March 2020 was not prolonged. A new one was declared on 30 September 2020, after the pandemic situation got worse. As stated above, any prolongation, expansion or declaration of the state of emergency may be subject to judicial review by the Constitutional Court.
Yes. The state of alarm, initially declared for a period of fifteen days, has been extended on six occasions, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 6.2 LOEAES (the SC does not establish any express regulation on the extension), which requires the express (and prior) authorisation of the Congress of Deputies, which in this case may establish the scope and conditions in force during the extension. The Government, in accordance with Art. 162 of the Regulations of the Congress of Deputies, must request it before the expiry of the deadline; the parliamentary groups may submit proposals on the scope and conditions of the extension before the debate, which begins with a presentation by a member of the Government of the reasons justifying the request for the extension and ends with the voting on the proposals submitted by the parliamentary groups after the Government's request and subsequently incorporating the proposals that have been previously approved. Amendments to Royal Decree 463/2020 have been included, specifying, extending or reducing the scope of the measures initially envisaged, in the decrees enacting these successive extensions always for exactly fifteen-day time limits so that the development of the state of alarm can be periodically debated in Congress (the LOEAES does not contain any provision on the duration of these extensions). It has been announced that the extension authorised by Congress on 3 June and which will run until 21 June will be the last one and therefore the state of alarm is due to end on that day.
Not applicable - the constitutiona does not provide for any emergency regime outside of the war situation
Not applicable (see Q2)
The state of emergency was declared several times and will last from the 18th of March till the 13th of June 2020.
Since the revolution of 14 January 2011, Tunisia has lived a long period under the aegis of the state of emergency. The situation arising from Covid 19, grafted on and the proclamation of the state of emergency continued on the basis of Decree 78-50 of January 26, 1978.
The state of emergency was not declared (and, consequently, not extended) - the executive authorities used powers given to them by the current legislation and by the amendments introduced by Parliament during the crisis
The State of Emergency was not declared (and, consequently, not extended) - the executive authorities used powers given to them by the current legislation and by the amendments introduced by Parliament during the crisis
No state of emergency was declared, and so this question falls away. However, the legislation adopted during the crisis (the CA) is of a temporary nature and has a sunset clause. Furthermore, the power of the executive to issue emergency regulations, given by ordinary status, also provides that those regulations have a validity limited in time and must be approved by Parliament, within a certain time-frame (see Q4 and Q5).
At Federal Level: President Trump issued the Proclamation on Declaring a National Emergency Concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak (Proclamation 9994) on March 13, 2020. It has been in effect ever since, and it has not been submitted to judicial review.
Albania
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Under the Act 2020-290 of 23 March 2020, the state of emergency is declared by decree in the Council of Ministers (Article 2) and can only be extended beyond one month by another law. It is therefore the legislator who can extend the state of emergency.
In the specific case of COVID, section 4 of the above act directly declared a two-month state of emergency.
The extension was decided by Law 2020-546 of 11 May 2020. The state of emergency will end on 10 July 2020 under Article 1 of the Act. A further extension is only possible by law.
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Korea, Republic
Kyrgyzstan
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
The legal regime of quarantine was initially introduced for two weeks (16 to 31 March); then it was prolonged for additional two weeks (until 13 April, 27 April, 11 May), subsequently for additional three weeks (until 31 May) and, ultimately, for two more weeks until 16 June (in total, 3 months); it was revoked as of 17 June 2020 and only the nationwide situation of emergency and the third level of alert under the Civil Protection Law (absolute preparedness) have remained.
The government decrees on introducing or prolonging the quarantine regime were not submitted to parliamentary control. According to Paragraph 3 of Article 21 (wording of 31 March 2020) of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases in Humans, the duration of the quarantine regime must not exceed 3 months and, if, after this time limit, the necessity to control and limit the spread of communicable diseases persists, quarantine may be prolonged every time for no longer than one month. Upon recommendation by the Minister of Health, the Government is empowered to declare and revoke quarantine throughout the entire territory of the Republic of Lithuania and approve its measures. In the context on the Covid-19 pandemic, Article 21 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases in Humans, which regulates a quarantine regime, was amended by determining the maximum duration of a quarantine regime, with the possibility of extending it. The above-mentioned law does not require that governmental decisions concerning the introduction of quarantine be submitted to parliamentary control.
So far, no government resolutions on introducing and prolonging the quarantine regime have been submitted to judicial review.
Mexico
Monaco
Morocco
Norway
Peru
Portugal
Serbia
Slovakia
The new declaration of state of emergency was challenged before the Court on 5 October 2010 by both deputy Prosecutor General and group of MPs in two separate petitions. The case is pending.
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
North Macedonia
These decisions will be subject to parliamentary control after the parliamentary elections, when the new Parliament convenes.
The first two decisions were subject to the review of the Constitutional Court. The initiative on constitutionality of the first declaration of a state of emergency was rejected on procedural ground.
The Constitutional Court confirmed the second decision for the declaration of the state of emergency as constitutional. The applicant claimed that the Constitution limits the period of a state of emergency that can be declared by the President of the Republic to a total of 30 days. This claims was rejected by the Constitutional Court which decided that renewals of this period are possible under the Constitution.
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States of America
At State Level:
GA: Yes, the state of emergency has been prolonged twice, due to the Georgia law that requires any state of emergency to expire after 30 days unless renewed by the governor. It was renewed several times and as of June 16, 2020 it will remain in effect until July 12, 2020. The prolongation is subject to legislative control—the legislature can terminate the state of emergency at any time—but it has not yet been terminated, nor has it been submitted to judicial review.
NE: No, the state of emergency has not needed to be prolonged, since Nebraska law provides that the state of emergency will remain in effect until terminated by Gov. Ricketts, unless it is first terminated by the legislature.
NY: In Executive Order 202, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a disaster emergency for COVID-19 for the entire State of New York on March 7, 2020. The executive order is in effect until September 7, 2020, so it has not yet needed to be prolonged.
WA: No, the state of emergency has not needed to be prolonged, since Washington state law provides that the state of emergency will remain in effect until terminated by Gov. Inslee “when order has been restored in the area affected.” Rev. Code Wash. (ARCW) §43.06.210.
WI: On March 12, 2020, Governor Tony Evers proclaimed that “a public health emergency, as defined in Section 323.02(16) of the Wisconsin Statutes, exists for the State of Wisconsin.” The proclamation did not state a date of expiration for the public health emergency, so the proclamation has not needed to be prolonged.