and the development of provisions necessary for the implementation of the law in
practice (cf. Paragraph 7 of the Constitutional Court Judgment in the Case No. 200503-0306 passed on 21 November 2005).
Although the Cabinet of Ministers is entitled to adopt regulatory enactments, the latter
are not permitted to contain such provisions that cannot be deemed as aids for the
implementation of the provisions of the law (cf. Paragraph 5 of the Constitutional
Court Judgment in the Case No. 2000-07-0409 passed on 3 April 2001).
Thus, it is permissible to delegate the drafting required for the implementation of a law
in practice to the Cabinet of Ministers, whereas the Saeima is obliged to decide all the
most important matters of the State and public life by itself through legislation.
Furthermore, the first part of Article 68 of the Constitution prescribes that all
international agreements, which settle matters that may be decided by the legislative
process, shall require ratification by the Saeima.
In order to establish whether the Saeima’s argumentation for the infringement of the
rights of persons, one should consider whether the Cabinet of Ministers was entitled to
decide without the authorisation from the Saeima the matters pertaining to the
international loans, or else the respective commitments are to be taken as settling the
matters that had to be decided through legislation and, accordingly, needed the
Saeima’s approval.
In determining whether the respective commitments are to be taken as settling the
matters that had to be decided through legislation, one should take into account the
previous practice of regulating such matters. So, on 29 December 1928, the President
of the State announced the Law on External Loan adopted by the Saeima on 18
December 1928. Article 1 of this law stated: “The Cabinet of Ministers shall be
authorised to enter into an commitment concerning an external loan for the amount of
six million US dollars for a period of 35 years with 6% annual interest rate and to sell
for this purpose the State Treasury bonds for the same amount for the highest possible
rate.” Furthermore, Article 3 of this law stated: “The Cabinet of Ministers shall issue
specific provisions for the implementation of this law into practice” (Collection of
laws and Cabinet regulations, issue No. 27, 31 December 1928, p. 662).
On 6 May 1931, the President of the State announced to the Saeima the Law on
Internal Loan for Road Building with Premiums adopted on 28 April 1931.
49
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