The dividends that will not be collected by shareholders during three years will be classed as revenues of the company. The Constitutional Court’s decision of July 19, by which the given legal provisions are declared constitutional, was published in the Official Gazette on December 8, IPN reports.

On May 22, the Court was asked by three MPs to pronounce on the constitutionality of Article 49 of the Law on Joint Stock Companies of April 2, 1997. These invoked that provisions stipulated in the Constitution and in Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights are violated.

The Constitutional Court said its decision was based on the positions stated earlier on the issue by a number of institutions. The head of state considers the dividends that are not claimed by the shareholders represent a source of the net assets of the company and the expropriation of the shareholders cannot be invoked in this case as the rise in the company’s net assets leads to a rise in the value of its shares.

Parliament stated in written form that the authors of the challenge mixed up the ownership right with the right to receive property, while the Government said the setting of the period of three years for receiving dividends meets the constitutional provisions and the fundamental right to property stipulated in the Constitution is not violated.

The Court rejected the MPs’ challenge and ruled that the given provisions are constitutional. Its decision is definitive.