Lodging an application with the Court
Exhaust all national remedies
Apply by application form or letter.
The application is registered and a file is created.
The Registry
Prepares the case for the Judge Rapporteur (one of the Court judges of a section) or the Single Judge
Rule 40: In any case of urgency, the Registrar may inform the
Contracting Party concerned in the application of the
introduction of the application and of a summary of its
object.
Rule 41: the Court shall have regard to the importance and
urgency of the issues raised on the basis of criteria fixed by
it. Thus give priority to the most important/urgent cases.
Allocation of cases
Applications are assigned to a Single Judge or to a Judge Rapporteur following to articles 49 and 52A of the Rules of Court.
The Judge Rapporteur decides whether the application should be communicated to a Single Judge, a Committee or a
Chamber
Procedure before a Single Judge or Committee
Applications which, on first face, do not satisfy the admissibility requirements are referred to a single judge or committee.
Single judges and Committees fulfil the role of disposing the weakest cases.
Single Judge
May declare an application
inadmissible or strike it out of the
Court’s list.
If the Single Judge has any doubts whether
the case is inadmissible the Single Judge
refers the case to a Committee.
An inadmissibility decision is taken
without further examination.
Committee
3 judges
A Committee should be unanimous in
deciding a case inadmissible. This can
be decided without, or following,
communication of the case to the
respondent government.
When inadmissible, the state is
informed by letter and the decision is
final. When the Committee is not
unanimous, the case is passed to a
chamber.
When admissible, the committee can
issue a judgement on the merits when
the underlying question is the subject
of well-established case-law.
Chamber
7 judges
Decides on the admissibility and merits of an application.
When decided inadmissible or to strike it out the Court’s list,
reasons are given. There is no option to appeal.
Further information or documents may be sought by the
President. It is possible to hold an oral hearing.
Communication to the respondent State
Written observations are asked when the case is not
inadmissible.
The Court examines the admissibility and the merits. The
parties are invited to lodge submissions for just satisfaction
and friendly settlement.
Chamber
Admissibility hearings
It is possible to hold a hearing to decide on the admissibility of an application. Admissibility hearings are very rare since
the ratification of Protocol 14.
Decisions on admissibility
Decisions on admissibility can be taken separately, however, it is common practice to decide on the admissibility and
merits together.
Admissibility and merits dealt together
When communicating a case to the respondent State, the
Court will make a decision to examine the admissibility
and merits at the same time.
The parties have the possibility to lodge submissions
dealing with just satisfaction and friendly settlement.
Relinquishment to a Grand Chamber
The chamber may relinquish its jurisdiction to a Grand Chamber: When a case raises questions affecting the
interpretation of the Convention (or its Protocols), or when a judgment might depart from previous case law.
Establishing the facts
Witnesses may be cross-examined and on-the-spot investigations may be carried out. However, in most cases the Court
establishes the facts on the basis of the documents in the file.
Delivery of a judgment
Several months after the submission of final written
observations (or the oral hearing), a reasoned judgment is
published.
Judgments of the Grand Chamber are read out (in
summary) at a public hearing. Committee and Chamber
judgments are sent to the parties.
Referral to the Grand Chamber
Any party can request referral to the Grand Chamber, in
exceptional cases. A panel of 5 judges from the Grand
Chamber decide on the request.
The panel decides whether a case involves any of the
following:
- it affects the interpretation of the Convention.
- difficulties arise in the application of the Convention.
- a serious issue of general importance.
Final judgment
A judgment is final when the following 3 conditions are
satisfied:
- The parties declare they will not request referral of the
case to the Grand Chamber or
- Three months after the judgment or
- If the panel of the Grand Chamber refuses a request for
referral.
The judgment of the Grand Chamber is final and all final
judgments have binding force.