FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 490/06 by Peter MEĽ UCH and Jana MEĽUCHOVÁ against Slovakia

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 12 October 2010 as a Committee composed of:

David Thór Björgvinsson , President, Päivi Hirvelä , Mihai Poalelungi , judges, and Fatoş Aracı , D eputy Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 13 December 2005,

Having regard to the applicants ' failure to reply to the observation of the respondent Government as well as to the subsequent letters sent by the Registry informing them that in case of absence of their response the Court may strike the present application out of its list of cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The application was lodged by Mr Peter Meľ uch and Ms Jana Meľuchová who are siblings. They a re Slovak nationals who were born in 1988 and 1991 respectively and live in Košice. They wer e represented before the Court by M r s Dana Me ľu chov á , their mother . The Government of the Slovak Republic (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs M. Pirošíková.

The applicant s complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length and unfairness of maintenance proceedings.

The applicants ' complaint concerning the length of the proceedings w as communicated to the Government, who submitted their observations on the admissibility and merits. The observations were forwarded to the applicants, who were, invited to submit their own observations. No reply was received to the Registry ' s letter.

By letter s dated 26 February 2009, 20 July 2009 and 4 June 2010 , sent by registered post, the applicants ' representative was notified that the period allowed for submission of the their observations had expired on 14 October 2008 and that no extension of t ime had been requested. The applicants ' 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 applicants ' representative received th e last Registry ' s letter on 9 June 2010 . However, no response has been received.

THE LAW

The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicants may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue their application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) 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.

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.

Fatoş Aracı David Thór Björgvinsson Deputy Registrar President