The 8th Amendment of Cyprus’ Constitution

The 8th Amendment of Cyprus’ Constitution was published in the Official Cyprus Gazette on 21.7.2015, allowing the establishment of an Administrative Court, by amending Article 146 of the Constitution accordingly. On the same day, the Law 131(I)/2015 was also published providing for the establishment and the operation of an Administrative Court. The new Court will be established in Nicosia and shall have competence to hear administrative law matters, i.e. recourses, seeking the annulment of administrative decisions and acts, at first instance. In addition to all other matters on which it had jurisdiction to hear until now, the Supreme Court shall continue to exercise appellate jurisdiction on administrative law matters, i.e. it will try appeals challenging the judgments of the newly established Administrative Court.

The Supreme Court of Cyprus has already called for the submission of applications for the filling of 5 judges’ positions (1 for the position of the President and 4 for the positions of judges) of the Administrative Court, and it is expected that the operation of the said Court will begin by the end of the current year.

The newly established Court will have jurisdiction to hear all administrative matters, including tax matters, in respect of which it will have the jurisdiction not only to confirm or declare as null and void, but also to amend the administrative tax-related act or decision, which forms the subject matter of the recourse.

The newly established Administrative Court is also expected to assist in the speeding up of the adjudication of the Administrative cases, as well as of the appeals heard before the Supreme Court, since a significant part of its current workload will be taken over by the Administrative Court.