JOINT CONCURRING OPINION OF JUDGES VAJIĆ AND LAFFRANQUE

We voted with the majority in finding that there had been no violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention on account of the quashing of the Administrative Panel ’ s decisions in the present case. We would, however, like to stress that our conclusion is closely linked to the specific facts of the case , namely the fact that the Administrative Panel ’ s decisions had not become final when the Federal Minister lodged official complaints within the statutory time-limit of six weeks (see paragraph 68 of the judgment).

The decisions of the Administrative Panel in respect of both applicants were served on the Federal Minister within six weeks of being served on the applicants, that is, before the time ‑ limit for the applicants to complain had expired (see paragraph 66). Had this not been the case, we would have had difficulty accept ing that there had been no violation of Article 6 § 1.