European Convention on Human Rights

Article 23 Terms of office and dismissal 2

The judges shall be elected for a period of nine years. They may not be re-elected.
The terms of office of judges shall expire when they reach the age of 70.
The judges shall hold office until replaced. They shall, however, continue to deal with such cases as they already have under consideration.
No judge may be dismissed from office unless the other judges decide by a majority of two-thirds that that judge has ceased to fulfil the required conditions.

Article 24 Registry and rapporteurs 2

The Court shall have a registry, the functions and organisation of which shall be laid down in the rules of the Court.
When sitting in a single-judge formation, the Court shall be assisted by rapporteurs who shall function under the authority of the President of the Court. They shall form part of the Court’s registry.

Article 25 Plenary Court 2

The plenary Court shall

elect its President and one or two Vice-Presidents for a period of three years; they may be re-elected;
set up Chambers, constituted for a fixed period of time;
elect the Presidents of the Chambers of the Court; they may be re-elected;
adopt the rules of the Court;
elect the Registrar and one or more Deputy Registrars;
make any request under Article 26, paragraph 2.
Article 26 Single-judge formation, committees, Chambers and Grand Chamber 2

To consider cases brought before it, the Court shall sit in a single-judge formation, in committees of three judges, in Chambers of seven judges and in a Grand Chamber of seventeen judges. The Court’s Chambers shall set up committees for a fixed period of time.
At the request of the plenary Court, the Committee of Ministers may, by a unanimous decision and for a fixed period, reduce to five the number of judges of the Chambers.
When sitting as a single judge, a judge shall not examine any application against the High Contracting Party in respect of which that judge has been elected.
There shall sit as an ex officio member of the Chamber and the Grand Chamber the judge elected in respect of the High Contracting Party concerned. If there is none or if that judge is unable to sit, a person chosen by the President of the Court from a list submitted in advance by that Party shall sit in the capacity of judge.
The Grand Chamber shall also include the President of the Court, the Vice-Presidents, the Presidents of the Chambers and other judges chosen in accordance with the rules of the Court. When a case is referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43, no judge from the Chamber which rendered the judgment shall sit in the Grand Chamber, with the exception of the President of the Chamber and the judge who sat in respect of the High Contracting Party concerned.

Article 27 Competence of single judges 3

A single judge may declare inadmissible or strike out of the Court’s list of cases an application submitted under Article 34, where such a decision can be taken without further examination.
The decision shall be final.
If the single judge does not declare an application inadmissible or strike it out, that judge shall forward it to a committee or to a Chamber for further examination.

Article 28 Competence of committees 4

In respect of an application submitted under Article 34, a committee may, by a unanimous vote,
declare it inadmissible or strike it out of its list of cases, where such decision can be taken without further examination; or
declare it admissible and render at the same time a judgment on the merits, if the underlying question in the case, concerning the interpretation or the application of the Convention or the Protocols thereto, is already the subject of well-established case-law of the Court.
Decisions and judgments under paragraph 1 shall be final.
If the judge elected in respect of the High Contracting Party concerned is not a member of the committee, the committee may at any stage of the proceedings invite that judge to take the place of one of the members of the committee, having regard to all relevant factors, including whether that Party has contested the application of the procedure under paragraph 1.b.

Article 29 Decisions by Chambers on admissibility and merits 1

If no decision is taken under Article 27 or 28, or no judgment rendered under Article 28, a Chamber shall decide on the admissibility and merits of individual applications submitted under Article 34. The decision on admissibility may be taken separately.
A Chamber shall decide on the admissibility and merits of inter-State applications submitted under Article 33. The decision on admissibility shall be taken separately unless the Court, in exceptional cases, decides otherwise.
Article 30 Relinquishment of jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber

Where a case pending before a Chamber raises a serious question affecting the interpretation of the Convention or the protocols thereto, or where the resolution of a question before the Chamber might have a result inconsistent with a judgment previously delivered by the Court, the Chamber may, at any time before it has rendered its judgment, relinquish jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber, unless one of the parties to the case objects.

Article 31 Powers of the Grand Chamber 1

The Grand Chamber shall:

determine applications submitted either under Article 33 or Article 34 when a Chamber has relinquished jurisdiction under Article 30 or when the case has been referred to it under Article 43;
decide on issues referred to the Court by the Committee of Ministers in accordance with Article 46, paragraph 4; and
consider requests for advisory opinions submitted under Article 47.

Article 32 Jurisdiction of the Court 1

The jurisdiction of the Court shall extend to all matters concerning the interpretation and application of the Convention and the protocols thereto which are referred to it as provided in Articles 33, 34, 46 and 47.
In the event of dispute as to whether the Court has jurisdiction, the Court shall decide.

Article 33 Inter-State cases

Any High Contracting Party may refer to the Court any alleged breach of the provisions of the Convention and the protocols thereto by another High Contracting Party.

Article 34 Individual applications

Chart of Declarations under former Articles 25 and 46 of the ECHR

The Court may receive applications from any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the protocols thereto. The High Contracting Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.

Article 35 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 six months from the date on which the final decision was taken.
The Court shall not deal with any application submitted under Article 34 that
is anonymous; or
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.
The Court shall declare inadmissible any individual application submitted under Article 34 if it considers that :
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
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 and provided that no case may be rejected on this ground which has not been duly considered by a domestic tribunal.
The Court shall reject any application which it considers inadmissible under this Article. It may do so at any stage of the proceedings.

Author: international

.

Mentioned in these Entries</h.

Mentioned in these Entries</h.

Mentioned in these Entries</h.

Mentioned in these Entries</h.

Mentioned in these Entries</h.