Interim Resolution CM/ Res DH ( 2020 ) 211

Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov, Zhovner group and Burmych and Others v. Ukraine (Applications No. 40450/04, 56848/00, 46852/13) concerning the non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic judicial decisions and the lack of an effective remedy in respect thereof

(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 1 October 2020

at the 1383 rd meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

Application

Case

Judgment of

Final on

Indicator for the classification

40450/04

YURIY NIKOLAYEVICH IVANOV

15/10/2009

15/01/2010

Pilot judgment

56848/00

ZHOVNER GROUP (List of cases CM/Notes/1383/H46-2 7 -a pp )

29/06/2004

29/09/2004

Complex problem

46852/13+

BURMYCH AND OTHERS

12/10/2017

Grand Chamber (Striking out)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter “the Convention”);

Having regard to the pilot judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) of 15 October 2009 in the case of Yuriy Nikolayevich Ivanov against Ukraine , 437 judgments in the Zhovner group transmitted to the Committee for supervision of their execution under Article 46 of the Convention , and the Burmych judgment of 12 October 2017 by which the Court decided to strike out 12,148 Ivanov follow-up applications ;

Recalling that this group of cases, the first judgment of which became final in 2004, concerns a complex and multifaceted problem of non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic judgments against the State and the lack of effective domestic remedies in this respect, one aspect of the major deficiencies affecting the functioning of the justice system, and thus the rule of law, in Ukraine ;

Recalling the constant position of the Committee that the problems at the root of the violations found by the Court in these judgments are large-scale and complex in nature and that their resolution requires the implementation of comprehensive and complex measures at both central and local level ;

Recalling further that for almost two decades the Committee has, in seven interim resolutions and numerous decisions, called upon the authorities to adopt, as a matter of priority, the necessary measures in its domestic legal system and to take resolute action without further delay , including the creation of a comprehensive system of judicial data collection to enable an assessment of the overall size of the state debt and the adoption and implement ation of the National Strategy, developed by the authorities, to tackle the root causes of the problem;

NOTED the creation of the Commission for the Execution of the European Court of Human Rights ’ Judgments as an advisory and coordinating body to support the action of the authorities aimed at resolving systemic and structural problems, the adoption of the Bankruptcy Code, and the developments in the judicial practice of the Supreme Court and the recent Constitutional Court’s judgment of 28 August 2020;

NOTED WITH INTEREST the adoption by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of a National Strategy on 30 September 2020; and, thus, took note of the commitment at the highest political level to resolve this issue; therefore, encouraged the authorities to adopt the Action plan for its implementation within two-months period; invited the Ukrainian authorities to send the Committee a copy of the National Strategy as adopted, together with the Action plan, as soon as possible;

NOT ED WITH DEEP REGRET the expiry of the deadlines previously set by the Court and the Committee of Ministers in these cases, including the most recent deadline of 12 October 2019 for the general measures to be taken under Article 46 for the satisfactory execution of the Ivanov pilot judgment , which was not met ;

DEEPLY DEPLORED that the present rate of implementation of judgment debts against the State is extremely low, that an additional moratorium has been imposed preventing the payment of any judgment debt against the State until January 2021 including those stemming from a large number of these judgments in relation to social payments and pensions to be paid to the most vulnerable category of individuals, in particular at a time of unprecedented health crisis and that the allocations in the 1170 budgetary programme have been cut;

EXPRESSED DEEP CONCERN , that against this background, that the pending legislative initiatives, notably draft laws No s. 3609 and 3726, do not contain the institutional, legislative and other measures needed to tackle the root causes of this problem;

PROFOUNDLY REGRETTED, that despite the Committee’s calls, the comprehensive system of calculation, management and control over the debts accumulated vis-à-vis the State aimed at ascertaining the overall picture as regards the enforcement of the judgments against the latter, has not been established;

STRONGLY URGED the authorities to provide updated information relating to the payment of the just satisfaction and, where applicable, the enforcement of domestic judicial decisions, ordering compensation payments or action in kind, including, notably, on the progress made in the payment of compensation to the individual applicants in the Burmych case , and to ensure sufficient funding to comply with the unconditional obligation under Article 46 § 1 of the Convention to pay the just satisfaction awarded by the Court ;

EXHORTED the authorities to fully resolve this problem and called upon the authorities to achieve rapid progress and introduce all necessary measures , most importantly, a comprehensive legislative package aligned with the requirements of the case-law of the Court and an effective remedy, until the problem of non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic judicial decisions has been fully resolved ;

REITERATED the availability of the Council of Europe to assist the Ukrainian authorities to this end;

INVITED the authorities to include this issue on the agenda of the parliamentary hearing on “Problems of Ukraine's implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights” in the Rada, in view of the need to elaborate and adopt a comprehensive legislative package, as previously requested by the Committee ;

DECIDED to resume consideration of this group of cases at their DH meeting in March 2021 and instruct the Secretariat to prepare a detailed assessment of the information provided as well as the measures taken and envisaged to execute the present group of cases before their DH meeting in March 20 21 with a view to a full assessment of the progress made by then .