Legal limitations on economic activity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in the jurisprudence of selected Czech and Polish courts : determinants of the level of effective protection of individual rights

Streszcz. ang. s. 83-84. Bibliogr. s. 84-85

The article compares the approaches of Czech and Polish courts to the judicial review of restrictions on the freedom of economic activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite similar constitutional guarantees, only in the Czech Republic did mechanisms of formal and substantive review operate effectively – primarily due to the active role of the Constitutional Court and the possibility of challenging general normative acts. In Poland, the Constitutional Tribunal remained inactive, and the scope of review by administrative courts was limited to formal legality, without producing erga omnes effects. Czech judicial authorities engaged in dialogue with the legislature and relatively swiftly developed both formal and substantive review standards. Polish administrative courts initially issued divergent rulings and ultimately adopted a line questioning the legality of executive regulations, yet confined their assessments to formal review. The divergence stemmed primarily from procedural, political, and cultural factors, and only to a limited extent from differences in constitutional texts. Thus, the actual protection of rights and freedoms depends not solely on the wording of constitutional norms but to a significant degree on institutional capacity and the legal culture of the state.