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Monitor Prawniczy

no. 23/2018

Safety of mass events – club ban

Jakub Majewski
Autor jest specjalistą ds. analiz i informacji w Biurze Komunikacji Społecznej Kancelarii Sejmu, Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego.
Abstract

According to Art. 14 of the Mass Events Safety Act, the organizer of a football match may impose a punitive measure in the form of a prohibition to attend future mass events on persons who have violated the facility or mass event rules. Persons punished with a club ban are entitled to request their case to be reviewed and may file a complaint to the administrative court.

The Ombudsman sent a request to the Constitutional Tribunal to find Art. 14.1, Art. 14.1a and Art. 14.5 of the Act out of compliance with Art. 2 in conjunction with Art. 87.1 and Art. 73 in conjunction with Art. 31.3 of the Constitution. The Tribunal ruled that Art. 14.1, Art. 14.1a and Art. 14.5 of the Mass Events Safety Act are in compliance withArt. 87.1 of the Constitution and are not incompatible with Art. 45.1 and Art. 73 in in conjunction with Art. 31.3 and Art. 45.1 of the Constitution.

The only reservation as regards the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment is aroused by the opinion that Art. 14.1a is in compliance with Art. 87.1 of the Constitution. Insofar as the Tribunal’s view that as an administrative sanction club ban is laid down in a generally applicable legal act is understandable, the fact that its sanctioning norm, a violation of which has a common legal effect, is enforced by a delegation act arouses constitutional doubts.

Nevertheless, the commented theses contained in the long awaited judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal generally deserve to be approved. First of all, the judges confirmed that freedom of participation in public sports events should be subject to constitutional protection and its restrictions need to meet constitutional requirements. The Tribunal also confirmed doubts as to constitutionality interference with human rights and freedoms a club ban constitutes in reference to Art. 41.1 or Art. 31.1 in in conjunction with Art. 31.3 of the Constitution. The Tribunal has also drawn attention of the lawmaker to the need of considering amendment of Art. 14 of the Mass Events Safety Act, which had been postulated by the doctrine for years.