THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 32878/16 Marina GOPIĆ against Serbia and 3 other applications

(s ee appended table)

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 12 September 2019 as a Committee composed of:

Dmitry Dedov, President, Alena Poláčková, Gilberto Felici, judges, and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application s lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,

Having regard to the observations submitted by the respondent Government and the observations in reply submitted by the applicants,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The list of applicant s is set out in the appended table.

The applicants were represented by Ms T. Stojiljković, a lawyer practising in Leskovac.

The applicants ’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 concerning the non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions given against socially/State-owned companies were communicated to the Serbian Government (“the Government”) .

THE LAW

Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.

The Government submitted that insolvency proceedings had been opened against the debtors and that the applicants had failed to report their claims in the insolvency proceedings. They had thereby failed to exhaust all effective domestic remedies.

The applicants made no comments in this connection.

The Court notes that the applicants filed requests for the enforcement of the domestic decisions indicated in the appended table. That being the case, they were not required to report their claims in the insolvency proceedings (see Lolić v. Serbia , no. 44095/06, § 26, 22 October 2013). Therefore, the Government ’ s objection must be dismissed.

Having said that, the Court has jurisdiction to apply the six-month rule of its own motion, even if the Government have not raised that objection (see Radomilja and Others v. Croatia [GC] , nos. 37685/10 and 22768/12, § 138, 20 March 2018). Since the applicants decided not to report their claims in the insolvency proceedings and there was no effective domestic remedy in cases of this kind at the relevant time (see Milunović and Čekrlić v. Serbia (dec.), nos. 3716/09 and 38051/09, § 65, 17 May 2011), they should have lodged their applications with this Court within six months from the termination of the enforcement proceedings in their cases (see, by analogy, Sokolov and Others v. Serbia (dec.), nos. 30859/10 and 6 others , 14 January 2014). All enforcement proceedings against the companies at issue were terminated, by operation of law, when the insolvency proceedings against those companies were opened (on different dates in 2009 and 2010 – see the appended table). The applications were lodged with this Court only in 2016.

It follows that the applications were introduced out of time and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention .

For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,

Decides to join the applications;

Declares the applications inadmissible.

Done in English and notified in writing on 3 October 2019 .

Liv Tigerstedt Dmitry Dedov Acting Deputy Registrar President

APPENDIX

List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1

( non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic decisions given against socially/State-owned companies )

No.

Application no.

Date of introduction

Applicant ’ s name

Date of birth

Relevant domestic decision

Date of enforcement order

End of enforcement proceedings

32878/16

02/06/2016

Marina Gopić

20/02/1964

Leskovac Commercial Court, 26/11/2003

13/06/2007

13/10/2009

79031/16

05/12/2016

Živadin Zlatanović

23/11/1948

Municipal Court in Leskovac, 09/12/2003

01/11/2007

08/07/2010

4280/17

22/12/2016

Slađana Cvetković

21/11/1965

Municipal Court in Leskovac, 25/08/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac, 06/03/2008

09/12/2004

07/11/2008

23/04/2009

23/04/2009

4287/17

22/12/2016

Suzana Đorđević

23/03/1968

Municipal Court in Leskovac, 08/12/2003

Municipal Court in Leskovac, 15/04/2008

13/12/2004

28/08/2008

23/04/2009

23/04/2009