This decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concerns the constitutionality of Article 51 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, which stipulates that normative legal acts regulating the activities of legal entities shall apply to entrepreneurial activities of individuals, unless otherwise established by law.
Structurally, the decision consists of an analysis of three main issues:
1. Whether this norm violates the principle of equality and non-discrimination
2. Whether it restricts the rights of individual entrepreneurs compared to other individuals
3. Whether the constitutional guarantee of retroactive effect of laws that mitigate liability applies to individual entrepreneurs
Key conclusions of the Constitutional Court:
– Article 51 of the Civil Code does not violate constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination
– Acquiring the status of an individual entrepreneur does not limit the constitutional rights of a person as a human being
– All constitutional guarantees of individual rights apply to individual entrepreneurs, including the guarantee of retroactive effect of laws that mitigate liability
– When applying Article 51 of the Civil Code, one should be guided by a constitutionally conforming interpretation, that is, taking into account all constitutional guarantees of human rights
