Admissibility criteria

  1. The Court may only deal with the matter after all domestic remedies have been exhausted, according to the generally recognised rules of international law, and within a period of four months from the date on which the final decision was taken.
  2. The Court shall not deal with any application submitted under Article 34 that
    1. is anonymous; or
    2. is substantially the same as a matter that has already been examined by the Court or has already been submitted to another procedure of international investigation or settlement and contains no relevant new information.
  3. The Court shall declare inadmissible any individual application submitted under Article 34 if it considers that:
    1. the application is incompatible with the provisions of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, manifestly ill-founded, or an abuse of the right of individual application; or
    2. the applicant has not suffered a significant disadvantage, unless respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto requires an examination of the application on the merits.
  4. The Court shall reject any application which it considers inadmissible under this Article. It may do so at any stage of the proceedings.