Despite the geographical distance between Central Europe and Southeast Asia, many parallels and similarities can be found in the Czech and Taiwanese systems of protection of constitutionality. This is true both in terms of the role and competence of the constitutional courts and with regard to specific issues that arise before them. 

The first bilateral meeting of representatives of the Taiwan Constitutional Court with the representatives of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic took place in June last year in Brno. A year later, the second meeting was held on Tuesday 16 April 2024, this time in Taipei. The delegation of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic to Taiwan was led by its President Josef Baxa, who was accompanied by Vice-Presidents Vojtěch Šimíček and Kateřina Ronovská. 

The bilateral meeting was opened by the President of the Taiwan Constitutional Court and the highest representative of the Taiwanese judiciary, Mr Tzong-Li Hsu. His introductory remarks were followed by a speech by Josef Baxa, who, talked about the development of the constitutional judiciary in the Czech Republic, the broader legal, political and social context of the establishment of the Constitutional Court and presented three selected judgments of the Constitutional Court against the background of the past three decades. These were 1) judgment file No Pl. 19/93 of 21 December 1993 on the motion to repeal Act No. 198/1993 Sb., on Illegality of the Communist Regime and Resistance to It, 2) judgment file No Pl. ÚS 19/08 of 26 November 2008 on the compliance of the so-called Lisbon Treaty with the constitutional order and 3) judgment file No Pl. ÚS 7/15 of 14 June 2016 on the motion to repeal Section 13(2) of Act No. 115/2006 Sb. on Registered Partnership and on Amendments to Certain Related Acts. President Josef Baxa also addressed general issues of constitutional judiciary and its role in contemporary society. After the speech, a lively discussion ensued, involving members of the Czech Constitutional Court delegation as well as the judges and professional personnel of the Taiwan Constitutional Court. Among other things, the death penalty, the unconstitutionality of which is currently being challenged before the Taiwan Constitutional Court, was discussed. While in the Czech Republic this punishment was removed from the penal code in 1990 and the constitutional order does not allow its reintroduction, it remains part of Taiwanese criminal law.

In addition to the bilateral meeting at the Taiwan Constitutional Court, the three-day programme also included visits to several other judicial institutions, namely the Taiwan High Court (Tainan Branch), the Taipei High Administrative Court, the Judges Academy and the Judicial Museum in Tainan.  
 

Pavel Dvořák
Head of External Relations and Protocol Department  
 

Bilateral meeting at the seat of the Taiwan Constitutional Court

President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic Josef Baxa during his speech 

Visit to the Taipei High Administrative Court

Meeting with the President of the Taiwan High Court (Tainan Branch)

Visit to the Judges Academy