Practical guide on admissibility criteria

PRACTICAL GUIDE ON ADMISSIBILITY CRITERIA Publishers or organisations wishing to reproduce this report (or a translation thereof) in print or online are asked to contact publishing@echr.coe.int for further instructions. © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights, 2014 This Guide has been prepared within the Department of the Jurisconsult and does not bind the Court. The first edition of the Guide was published in 2009 and the second in 2011. The manuscript for this third edition has been updated to 1 January 2014. . This Guide is available for downloading at www.echr.coe.int (Case-law Ð Case-law analysis Ð Admissibility guide). TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ....................................................................................................... 7 Flow chart ÒThe life of an applicationÓ ...................................................................... 9 Simplified case processing flow chart by judicial formations ................................... 10 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 11 A. Individual application ............................................................................. 12 1. Purpose of the provision........................................................................................ 12 2. Categories of petitioners ....................................................................................... 13 (a) Physical persons ...................................................................................................................... 13 (b) Legal persons ........................................................................................................................... 13 (c) Any group of individuals ........................................................................................................ 14 3. Victim status .......................................................................................................... 14 (a) Notion of ÒvictimÓ ................................................................................................................... 14 (b) Direct victim ............................................................................................................................ 14 (c) Indirect victim ......................................................................................................................... 14 (d) Potential victims and actio popularis ..................................................................................... 16 (e) Loss of victim status ................................................................................................................ 16 (f) Death of the victim .................................................................................................................. 17 4. Representation ....................................................................................................... 18 B. Freedom to exercise the right of individual application ...................... 18 1. Obligations of the respondent State ...................................................................... 20 (a) Rule 39 of the Rules of Court ................................................................................................. 20 (b) Establishment of the facts ...................................................................................................... 21 (c) Investigations ........................................................................................................................... 21 I. PROCEDURAL GROUNDS FOR INADMISSIBILITY ........................ 22 A. Non-exhaustion of domestic remedies ................................................... 22 1. Purpose of the rule ................................................................................................ 22 2. Application of the rule ........................................................................................... 23 (a) Flexibility ................................................................................................................................. 23 (b) Compliance with domestic rules and limits .......................................................................... 23 (c) Existence of several remedies ................................................................................................. 23 (d) Complaint raised in substance ............................................................................................... 23 (e) Existence and appropriateness .............................................................................................. 24 (f) Availability and effectiveness ................................................................................................. 24 3. Limits on the application of the rule ..................................................................... 25 4. Distribution of the burden of proof ....................................................................... 25 5. Procedural aspects ................................................................................................ 27 6. Creation of new remedies ...................................................................................... 27 B. Non-compliance with the six-month time-limit .................................... 29 1. Purpose of the rule ................................................................................................ 29 2. Starting date for the running of the six-month period ........................................... 29 (a) Final decision ........................................................................................................................... 29 (b) Starting point........................................................................................................................... 30 (i) Knowledge of the decision ............................................................................................................................... 30 (ii) Service of the decision ..................................................................................................................................... 30 (iii) No service of the decision .............................................................................................................................. 31 (iv) No remedy available ....................................................................................................................................... 31 (v) Continuing situation ........................................................................................................................................ 31 3. Expiry of the six-month period .............................................................................. 31 4. Date of introduction of an application .................................................................. 32 (a) Completed application form .................................................................................................. 32 (b) Letter of authority .................................................................................................................. 32 (c) Date of dispatch ....................................................................................................................... 32 (d) Dispatch by fax ........................................................................................................................ 32 (e) Characterisation of a complaint ............................................................................................ 32 (f) Subsequent complaints ........................................................................................................... 32 5. Special situations ................................................................................................... 33 (a) Applicability of time constraints to continuing situations concerning the right to life, home and property ...................................................................................................... 33 (b) Conditions of application of the six-month rule in cases of multiple periods of detention under Article 5 ¤ 3 of the Convention .................................................................. 33 C. Anonymous application .......................................................................... 34 1. Anonymous application ......................................................................................... 34 2. Non-anonymous application.................................................................................. 34 D. Substantially the same ............................................................................ 35 1. Substantially the same as a matter that has been examined by the Court ............ 35 2. Substantially the same as a matter submitted to another procedure of international investigation or settlement ............................................................... 36 (a) The assessment of similarity of cases ..................................................................................... 36 (b) The concept of Òanother procedure of international investigation or settlementÓ ............ 37 E. Abuse of the right of application ........................................................... 37 1. General definition.................................................................................................. 37 2. Misleading the Court ............................................................................................. 37 3. Offensive language...