Constitutional shaping of the regulatory powers of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: Ten years of application of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia

• Main Authors: Korhec Tamaš, Beretka Katinka
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law, Belgrade, Serbia 2018-01-01
• Series: Anali Pravnog Fakulteta u Beogradu
• Subjects: constitution; autonomous province; regulatory power; constitutional court; division of competences/power-sharing
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0003-2565/2018/0003-25651801090K.pdf

Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia from 2006 concerning the position of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina are essentially based on constitutional solutions from 1990 with some differences. Compared to the previous one, the present Constitution contains numerically more norms regulating the position of autonomous provinces (actually the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina being the only autonomous province in the legal system of the Republic of Serbia): regulatory powers have been extended to new social fields, there are constitutional guarantees of property of the autonomous province, types and degree of its incomes, as well as protection of the autonomous province from potential usurpation of its competences by the State and local municipalities. Notwithstanding the formal extension of constitutional guaranties concerning the position of the AP Vojvodina real weight and scope of these constitutional provisions, especially those being a novelty in the legal system of Serbia, might be evaluated only through analysis of the constitutional practice. This paper is going to analyze competences of AP Vojvodina in the field of regulation, law-making. The analysis involves different solutions in laws regulating competences of AP Vojvodina as well as interpretations and standings of the Constitutional Court on the scope and limitations of these regulatory powers. It has been found that laws contain 'colorful' solutions concerning determination of the regulatory powers of the AP Vojvodina, and still, ten years after the enactment of the Constitution, owing to juridical practice and interpretations of the Constitutional Court the AP Vojvodina has practically no right to regulate issues of social life by the regulations of the Provincial Assembly, even though it would be possible in different ways even within current constitutional framework and limits.