SECOND SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 28392/05 by VON HANDEL against Hungary

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 24 November 2009 as a Chamber composed of:

Françoise Tulkens , President, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky , Danutė Jočienė , Dragoljub Popović , András Sajó , Nona Tsotsoria , Kristina Pardalos , judges, and Françoise Elens-Passos, Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 26 July 2005,

Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the case,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

PROCEDURE

The applicants, Mr Norbert von Handel and Ms Elisabeth von Handel, are Austrian nationals who live in Steinerkirchen , Austria . They were represented before the Court by Mr L. Holzmann, a lawyer practising in Budapest . The Hungarian Government (“the Government”) were represented by Mr L. Höltzl , Agent, Ministry of Justice and Law Enforcement .

On 17 August 2009 the Court decided to communicate the applicant s ’ complaint concerning the length of civil proceedings , under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, which proceedings began on 13 June 1994 and ended on 23 September 2005 .

On 12 and 15 October 2009 the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties by which the applicant s agreed to waive any further claims against Hungary in respect of the facts giving rise to this application against an undertaking by the Government to pay them, jointly, 12,0 00 euros to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which would be converted into Hungarian forints at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and free of any taxes that may be applicable. This sum would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court pursuant to Article 37 § 1 of the Convention. In the event of failure to pay this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from the expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period, plus three percentage points. The payment would constitute the final resolution of the case.

THE LAW

The Court takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no public policy reasons to justify a continued examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine of the Convention).

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

             Françoise Elens-Passos Françoise Tulkens              Deputy Registrar President