FIRST SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 13478/15 FAVAL D.O.O . against Croatia

The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 17 September 2019 as a Committee composed of:

Krzysztof Wojtyczek, President, Pere Pastor Vilanova, Pauliine Koskelo, judges,

and Renata Degener, Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 10 March 2015,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

1. The applicant, Faval d.o.o ., was a company incorporated under Croatian law which had its registered office in Čađavica (“the applicant company”). It was represented before the Court by Mr Z. Tukša , a lawyer practising in Zagreb.

2. The Croatian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms Š. Stažnik .

3. On 16 June 2017 the applicant company ’ s complaint under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, concerning the lack of access to a court, was communicated to the Government. On 9 October 2017 the Government submitted their observations on the admissibility and merits. On 11 October 2017 the observations were forwarded to the applicant company ’ s representative, Mr Z. Tukša , who was invited to submit observations in reply on behalf of the applicant company. No reply was received to the Registry ’ s letter.

4. By letter dated 23 October 2018, sent by registered post, the applicant company ’ s representative, Mr Z. Tukša , was notified that the period allowed for submission of observations in reply had expired on 22 November 2017 and that no extension of time had been requested. The applicant company ’ s representative ’ s attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike a case out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application. The applicant company ’ s representative received this letter on 2 November 2018 but failed to reply.

5. On 27 February 2019 the Government informed the Court that on 17 November 2016 the Bjelovar Commercial Court ( Trgovački sud u Bjelovaru ) had decided to open bankruptcy proceedings against the applicant company and to appoint a bankruptcy administrator. Accordingly, on the day of opening of the bankruptcy proceedings the authority of the applicant company ’ s director to represent the company ended and was transferred to the bankruptcy administrator. The Government further informed the Court that the bankruptcy proceedings had been closed on 28 March 2018 and that on 27 April 2018 the applicant company had been deleted from the register of commercial companies.

6. The applicant company thereby ceased to exist as a legal entity. It could have, however, continued to participate in various proceedings as “the bankruptcy estate” of the applicant company, represented by its bankruptcy administrator.

7. By letters dated 4 March and 22 May 2019, sent by registered post, the applicant company ’ s bankruptcy administrator, Mr B. Valentić , was invited to contact the Court in relation to the present case within two weeks of receipt of its letters. The applicant company ’ s bankruptcy administrator received those letters on 13 March and 31 May 2019 respectively. However, he failed to respond to the Registry ’ s correspondence.

THE LAW

8. Having regard that (a) the applicant company ceased to exist following the bankruptcy proceedings, and (b) the representative of “the bankruptcy estate” of the applicant company failed to respond to the Court ’ s correspondence, the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine , the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.

9. 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.

Done in English and notified in writing on 10 October 2019 .

Renata Degener Krzysztof Wojtyczek Deputy Registrar President