Resolution CM /ResDH(2007)102 [1]

Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

in 9 cases against Croatia concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings and the lack of an effective remedy

(see details of the cases in Appendix )

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the P rotection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”),

Having regard to the judgments transmitted by the Court to the Committee once they had become final;

Recalling that the violations of the Convention found by the Court in these cases concern the excessive length of certain proceedings before civil courts in all cases (violations of Article 6, paragraph 1) and the lack of an effective remedy allowing the applicants to complain against this length in three cases (violations of Article 13, see details in Appendix);

Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the mea s ures taken in order to comply with Croatia ' s obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Conve n tion to abide by the judgments;

Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee ' s Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;

Having satisfied itself that, within the time-limit set, the respondent state paid the a p plicants the just satisfactions provided in the judgments (see details in Appendix),

Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded in the judgments, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate, of

- individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum ; and

- general measures preventing similar violations;

Having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix),

DECLARES that it has exe r cised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in these cases and

DECIDES to close the examination of these cases.

Appendix to Resolution CM /ResDH(2007)102

Information about the measures taken to comply with the judgments in 9 cases against Croatia concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings and the lack of an effective remedy

Introductory case summary

These cases concern the excessive length of certain civil proceedings (violations of Article 6§1).

The cases of Debelić (application No.2448/03), Zagorec and Nogolica No.2 also concern the lack of an effective remedy at the applicants ' disposal against the excessive length of the proceedings in question (violations of Article 13).

In these three cases the Court noted than even though the applicants had lodged a constitutional complaint while their proceedings had still been pending, the Constitutional Court dismissed the complaint as inadmissible, once the proceedings ended, without examining their length until that time. Consequently, the European Court concluded that the practice of the Constitutional Court in the circumstances of these cases rendered an otherwise effective remedy ineffective.

I. P ayments of just satisfaction and individual measures

a) Details of just satisfaction

Case and application No.

Date of judgment

Final on

Non-pecuniary damage

P ecuniary damage

Costs and expenses

Date of payment

ANTONIC-TOMASOVIC

Mira

5208/03

10/02/06

3 300 €

-

-

13/03/06

DEBELIC Ivan

2448/03

26/08/05

2 000 €

-

-

03/10/05

DEBELIC Nedeljko

9235/04

12/10/06

12/01/07

-

-

-

-

MARINOVIC TATJANA

9627/03

06/10/05

06/01/06

2 700 €

-

-

06/02/06

NOGOLICA n o 2

Zvonko

29052/03

17/11/05

17/02/06

4 200 €

-

1 200 €

13/03/05

SKARE Danko

17267/03

15/06/06

15/09/06

2 500 €

-

-

09/10/06

STOJIC Aleksandra

36719/03

01/06/06

4 200 €

-

500 €

SUNDOV Zvonko

13876/03

13/04/06

13/07/06

1 800 €

-

-

31/08/06

ZAGOREC Marijan

10370/03

06/10/05

06/01/06

1 000 €

-

-

15/02/06

b) Individual measures

In all these cases, except those of Antonić-Tomasović, Nogolica n o 2 and Stojić , the domestic proceedings criticised by the Court have been ended. As regards civil proceedings relating to these three cases, the competent courts ' attention was drawn to the European Court ' s findings with a view to accelerating the proceedings as far as possible. The conduct of proceedings in these cases is being supervised by the Ministry of Justice.

II. General measures

1) Measures taken to avoid the excessive length of civil proceedings

The government recalls that Croatia has already taken general measures to avoid new violations concerning the excessive length of civil proceedings (see the final resolution ResDH(2005)60 in the case of Horvat against Croatia ), in particular through the adoption on 14 July 2003 of legislation amending the Act on Civil P rocedure, which strengthens procedural discipline and simplifies civil proceedings.

2) Effective remedy to complain about the excessive length of judicial proceedings

An effective remedy against the excessive length of judicial proceedings was introduced in Croatia n law in 2002 ( new Article 63 of the Act on the Constitutional Court, in force since 15 March 2002, for futher detail see the final resolution ResDH(2005)60 adopted in the Horvat case). The Court has found on numerous occasions that this new provision provided an effective remedy in respect of complaints concerning the excessive length of judicial proceedings (see the judgment Radoš and others against Croatia (07/11/2002) and admissibility decisions in the cases of Slaviček (decision of 04/07/2002), Nogolica (decision of 05/09/2002), P laftak and others (decision of 03/10/2002), Jeftić (decision of 03/10/2002) and Sahini (decision of 11/10/2002)).

Concerning the finding of the European Court that the practice of the Constitutional Court in the circumstances of the cases Debelić (application No.2448/03), Zagorec and Nogolica No.2 rendered this remedy ineffective, it should be noted that subsequently to the facts in these cases, the Constitutional Court changed its practice and began to examine complaints against the excessive length of judicial proceedings in cases where the proceedings concerned had come to an end in the meantime (see decision No. U ‑ IIIA-603/2003 of the Constitutional Court of 24/09/2004).

In addition, it may be noted that following the amendments to the Court ' s Act, which entered into force on 29 December 2005, the Constitutional Court is no longer competent to examine at first instance complaints against the excessive length of judicial proceedings. Instead, the courts superior to those dealing with the merits of a case have such competence (Articles 27 and 28 of the Court ' s Act). Their decisions concerning such complaints may be appealed before the Supreme Court, -and the decisions of the latter before the Constitutional Court .

The government underlines in this context that in January 2006 a seminar was organised for judges by the Judicial Academy with the aim of ensuring that the courts competent to examine this kind of complaints take into account the case-law of the Constitutional Court in this field, as well as that of the European Court . The Judicial Academy has also organised workshops for the judges concerning the implementation of the new legislation in this area.

3) P ublication and dissemination

Moreover, the government considers that the direct effect of the case-law of the Court, which domestic courts are beginning to recognise, will prevent new violations in future similar to that found in the present cases by ensuring that the law is interpreted in conformity with the requirements of the Convention. With a view to facilitating this development, the authorities published the judgments of the European Court in the cases of Debelić (application No.9235/04) and Stojić, in Croatia n, on the official website of the Ministry of Justice www.provosudje.hr and in the Review of the Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights . These judgments were sent out to the courts directly concerned, as well as to the Constitutional Court and to the Supreme Court.

III. Conclusions of the respondent state

The government considers that the measures adopted have fully remedied the consequences for the applicants of the violations found in these cases. It further considers that the general measures adopted will contribute to avoid new violations similar to those found in these cases. Hence, the government considers that Croatia has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention.

[1] Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 20 June 2007 at the 997th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies.