On Wednesday, 21 June, representatives of the Taiwan Constitutional Court met with representatives of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. The Taiwanese delegation was led by the President of the Court, Mr Tzong-Li Hsu, and Judges Mr Jau-Yuan Hwang and Ms Tzung-Jen Tsai. President Mr Pavel Rychetský, Vice-President Mr Vojtěch Šimíček and Justice Mr Josef Baxa were present on behalf of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic. 

In view of the fact that this was the first bilateral meeting of the representatives of the two institutions, the opening of the meeting was devoted to more general topics. Both sides introduced the history of constitutional judiciary in their respective territories and presented the contemporary constitutional and legal system of which the Czech and Taiwanese Constitutional Court is a part. Subsequently, attention was focused on the specific competences of the constitutional courts, in particular on the review of the constitutionality of laws and the adjudication of individual constitutional complaints. The second part of the meeting was dedicated to a debate about recent case law. Among other things, the judicial review of measures taken by the executive to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic was discussed. 

Even though the distance between Central Europe and East Asia is large, there are many parallels between the Czech and Taiwanese models of protection of constitutionality and constitutional judiciary. This is both in terms of the competence of the constitutional courts and the issues that arise before them. 

The meeting took place in the newly renovated Grand Council Hall. However, the guests also visited other premises of the Constitutional Court's Brno seat, such as the neo-renaissance Assembly (Plenary) Hall or the courtrooms used for the regular pronouncement of the judgments of the Constitutional Court.

Pavel Dvořák, 
Head of External Relations and Protocol Department