Under § 34 of the Act on the Constitutional Court, it must be clear from the petition to open proceedings (the constitutional complaint) who is making it, what matter it concerns and what it seeks; the petition must be signed and dated. The petition must also contain a truthful description of the decisive facts, a description of the evidence on which the petitioner relies, and it must state clearly what the petitioner seeks (the proposed judgment). Of course, it must state the specific fundamental rights and freedoms that the complainant seeks to have the Constitutional Court protect.

A sufficient number of originals (not photocopies) of a constitutional complaint must be submitted so that there is one for the Constitutional Court and one can be delivered to each party or secondary party named in the petition. Under § 76 of the Act on the Constitutional Court, parties to proceedings are the complainant and the state body or other public authority against whose intervention the complaint is directed. Secondary parties are other parties of the foregoing proceedings in which the decision contested by the complaint was made. If this was a criminal proceeding, the parties to that proceeding are secondary parties (see § 12 par. 6 of the Criminal Procedure Code).

Under § 72 par. 6 of the Act on the Constitutional Court, a copy of the decision on the last remedy that the law provides for protection of rights must be attached to the constitutional complaint (generally that is the remedy alleged to have violated the complainant’s fundamental rights and freedoms, and which he seeks to have annulled.) It is also appropriate to attach copies of other decisions that are connected to the contested decision (e.g., decisions of bodies at lower levels).

If a constitutional complaint lacks one of the requirements provided by the Act on the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court will call on the complainant to remove defects in the constitutional complaint, and will set a deadline for doing so. If the complainant does not remove defects in the complaint by the deadline, the Constitutional Court will deny the complaint under § 43 par. 1 let. a) of the Act on the Constitutional Court.