Budzowska Jolanta

Contribution of Jolanta Budzowska, legal counsel, partner in BUDZOWSKA
FIUTOWSKI AND PARTNERS. LEGAL COUNSELS with its registered office in
Kraków (POLAND) to open call for information, proposals and views on the
longer-term future of the European Convention on Human Rights
The comments involve the postulates of respective changes to the system of the European
Convention of Human Rights and the ECHR in respect of the need to implement the rules of more
informative
justification
of
the
reasons
why
the
application
was
declared
inadmissible;
implementation of the electronic system that allows the applicants to monitor their cases;
introducing new filtering mechanisms that facilitate the procedure before the Court; implementing
the procedure of advisory opinions.
CONTRIBUTION:
I. From the perspective of the current practice of representing the applicants in the
proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights, I would like to primarily draw
attention to the urgent problem regarding the proceedings, as regulated in the present
Convention on Human Rights and the Rules of the European Court of Human Rights. I refer
here to the absence of the relevant written justification in the case of the rejection of the
application which does not meet the admissibility criteria.
Such situation, undesirable from the perspective of both the applicant and the applicant’s
counsel, has its basis in particular in the article 35 of the European Convention on Human
Rights. Such regulation results in lack of certainty as to the reasons why the application was
deemed inadmissible. In this way the applicant is deprived of the inherent right to be
informed about the basis of the Court’s reasoning and, thus, the applicant remains
uninformed whether the application was deemed inadmissible due to formal deficiencies of
the application (therefore due to the applicant’s or his counsel’s fault) or due to objective
premises that neither the applicant nor the counsel had influence on (like the fact that the
application is substantially the same as the matter that has already been examined by the
Court), despite compliance with the provisions of the Convention or the Rules.
Therefore, it would be recommended to introduce a separate provision to the Rules or to the
Convention itself that would impose the duty on the Court to provide the applicant with at
least very general, yet informative justification of the reasons why the application was
declared inadmissible or was not dealt with by the Court. Such action will undoubtedly have
a positive impact on the position and the significance of the function of the Court and its
recognition in the society. It will also guarantee the basic standards of social justice. It will
Contribution of Jolanta Budzowska, legal counsel, partner in BUDZOWSKA
FIUTOWSKI AND PARTNERS. LEGAL COUNSELS with its registered office in
Kraków (POLAND) to open call for information, proposals and views on the
longer-term future of the European Convention on Human Rights
also contribute to the harmonization of the procedure before the Court at the international
level, since such a solution will approach the procedure before the Court to the principles and
standards applied in judicial proceedings of the national courts of Europe.
II. The second issue that should be raised in the context of the reform of the system of the
European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights is the
applicants’ right to information. At present the applicant is not in the position to obtain
information about the progress of the case and its status, especially before the Court’s
decision to deem the application admissible.
The right to information at this stage is considerably restricted and thus the applicant is
deprived of the possibility to monitor the status of the case. Such state of affairs significantly
influences the overall reception of the image of the current procedure of the Court in the form
of the lack of direct contact with the Court. Due to the consultant’s practice and experience it
can be recommended to introduce a new system, possibly electronic system of information
available for the applicants. With the use of such a system each applicant could be assigned
with his separate electronic applicant’s account where with the use of password it would be
possible for the applicant to obtain current information about the state of the case. Such a
solution would not involve the engagement of the staff of the Court and would require only
the implementation of the relevant software and its updating. It is believed that such a change
is all the more desirable having in mind the visible increase of the legal awareness of society
which could result in increased number of applications filed with the Court. A greater number
of cases may extend the timescales of the proceedings before the Court, hence the
implementation of such a system of electronic information and monitoring of pending cases
would be recommended and deemed necessary.
III. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is also proposed to introduce a new filtering
mechanism for complaints filed with the European Court of Human Rights and the initial
stage of adjudication by, as it is proposed, junior judges who could only deal with
preliminary issues. Such a solution would undoubtedly contribute to timely adjudication of
cases and a better organisation of the Court.
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Contribution of Jolanta Budzowska, legal counsel, partner in BUDZOWSKA
FIUTOWSKI AND PARTNERS. LEGAL COUNSELS with its registered office in
Kraków (POLAND) to open call for information, proposals and views on the
longer-term future of the European Convention on Human Rights
IV. It is also postulated to introduce the institution of advisory opinions that could be issued
by the Court. Such opinions could be issued in cases involving such violation of human rights
that represents a significant problem which bears resemblance in respective cases. Such a
solution would add to the possibility of a quicker and more fluent adjudication of cases, yet
without in any way restricting the applicants’ right to Court.
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