KOVÁCS AND OTHERS v. HUNGARY
Doc ref: 37163/14;39452/14;20926/15;34284/15;44717/15;20482/16;52448/16 • ECHR ID: 001-192250
Document date: March 7, 2019
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FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 37163/14 Attila Ferenc KOVÁCS against Hungary and 6 other applications (see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 7 March 2019 as a Committee composed of:
Georges Ravarani, President, Marko Bošnjak, Péter Paczolay, 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 declarations submitted by the respondent Government requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicant s and their representatives is set out in the appended table.
The applicant s ’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings were communicated to the Hungarian Government (“the Government”) . In some of the applications, complaints based on the same facts were also communicated under Article 13 of the Convention.
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 .
After unsuccessful friendly-settlement negotiations, the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make unilateral declarations with a view to resolving the issues raised by these complaints. They further requested the Court to strike out the applications in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.
The Government acknowledged the excessive length of civil proceedings. In some of the applications, they further acknowledged that the domestic authorities had violated the applicant s ’ rights guaranteed by Article 13 of the Convention. They offered to pay the applicants the amount s detailed in the appended table and invited the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention. The amount s would be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and would be payable within three months from the date of notification of the Court ’ s decision. In the event of failure to pay these amounts within the above-mentioned three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them, 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 will constitute the final resolution of the case s .
The applicant s were sent the terms of the Government ’ s unilateral declarations several weeks before the date of this decision. The Court has not received a response from the applicant s accepting the terms of the declarations.
The Court observes that Article 37 § 1 (c) enables it to strike a case out of its list if:
“... for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application”.
Thus, it may strike out applications under Article 37 § 1 (c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicant s wish the examination of the cases to be continued (see, in particular, Tahsin Acar v. Turkey (preliminary objections) [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75 ‑ 77, ECHR 2003-VI).
The Court has established clear and extensive case-law concerning complaints relating to the excessive length of civil proceedings (see, for example, Gazsó v. Hungary, no. 48322/12, 16 July 2015).
Noting the admissions contained in the Government ’ s declarations as well as the amount of compensation proposed – which is consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases – the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1 (c)).
In the light of the above considerations, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the applications (Article 37 § 1 in fine ).
Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declarations, the applications may be restored to the list in accordance with Article 37 § 2 of the Convention ( Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4 March 2008).
In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government ’ s declarations and of the arrangements for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 28 March 2019 .
Liv Tigerstedt Georges Ravarani Acting Deputy Registrar President
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention
(excessive length of civil proceedings)
No.
Application no. Date of introduction
Applicant ’ s name
Date of birth / Date of registration
Representative ’ s name and location
Other complaints under well-established case-law
Date of receipt of Government ’ s declaration
Date of receipt of applicant ’ s comments, if any
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses
per applicant/household
(in euros) [1]
37163/14
09/05/2014
Attila Ferenc Kovács
12/03/1967
Molnár Attila István
Budapest
10/10/2018
06/11/2018
2,600
39452/14
19/05/2014
Mária Regász
22/04/1961
04/10/2018
27/11/2018
800
20926/15
12/04/2015
Household
Péter Sándor
02/02/1957
Mária Jóvér
27/10/1959
Karsai Dániel András
Budapest
Art. 13 - lack of any effective remedy in domestic law in respect of excessive length of civil proceedings -
08/10/2018
07/11/2018
4,000
34284/15
08/07/2015
István Pál
29/10/1963
Mester Csaba
Budapest
15/10/2018
22/11/2018
4,000
44717/15
28/08/2015
Zsolt Hullámos
14/05/1969
Kovács Krisztina
Kapuvár
06/11/2018
05/12/2018
5,000
20482/16
08/04/2016
Household
Ágnes Angerer
14/02/1948
Adrienne Angerer
03/12/1974
Béres Norbert
Budapest
03/12/2018
10/01/2019
2,500
52448/16
01/09/2016
Kulimár és Társa Kft
01/12/2003
Tamás Ildikó
Nyíregyháza
04/12/2018
10/01/2019
800[1] . Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.