FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no . 55970/13 Emanuel and Rita PORTELLI against Malta

The European Court of Human Rights ( Fifth Section ), sitting on 20 October 2015 as a Committee composed of:

Boštjan M. Zupančič , President, Helena Jäderblom , Aleš Pejchal , judges, and Milan Blaško , Deputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 19 August 2013 ,

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

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

FACTS AND PROCEDURE

The applicants, Mr Emanuel Portelli and Ms Rita Portelli , are Maltese nationals, who were born in Piet à and live in Attard . They were represented before the Court by Dr T. Azzopardi , a lawyer practising in Valetta .

The Maltese Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Dr P. Grech , Attorney General.

The applicants ’ complaint about the length of their civil proceedings was communicated on 29 May 2015 whilst the remainder of the application was declared inadmissible .

On 2 July 2015 and 4 September 2015 respectively, the Court received friendly settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Malta in respect of the complaint concerning Article 6 § 1 (length of proceedings) against an undertaking by the Government to pay them EUR 6,500 (six thousand and five hundred euros), jointly, to cover any and all pecuniary and non ‑ pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.

The sum w ill be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. 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 will constitute the final resolution of the case with respect to Article 6 § 1 of the Convention .

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 reasons to justify a continued examination of the application. 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 in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.

Done in English and notified in writing on 12 November 2015 .

Milan BlaÅ¡ko BoÅ¡tjan M. Zupančič              Deputy Registrar President