The shortening of the period for submitting applications to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) from six months to four months after the exhaustion of domestic remedies will mobilize the plaintiffs. The new period takes effect on February 1, 2022. The persons will have to faster decide whether they want to go to the ECHR or not, Alexandru Postica, adviser on strategic development at Promo-LEX, stated for IPN.

He explained that this modification has been discussed for a long period and is based on an analysis carried out earlier, and also on the interests of citizens. A goal is to exclude the applications that do not have chances of being solved positively by the ECHR.

It is important to know that the four-month period is applied for cases in which the last irrevocable decision was passed by national courts after February 1, 2022. If the last decision is passed before February 1, the period will remain six months, stated Alexandru Postica.

As an organization, Promo-LEX submitted over 200 applications to the ECHR. The people whose rights were violated usually sought help from a lawyer for filing an application to the ECHR immediately after the judgment was passed. If the person made a request on the fifth or sixth month of the old period, they didn’t manage to write an application as the process takes time.

Now that the period of applying to the ECHR was shortened, the High Court will probably have to examine the applications faster. “I do not rule out the possibility that some of the persons will be unable to meet the new period for different reason. But I don’t think this is the case judging by the last experiences as the court procedures are digitized and the court decisions are published rather quickly – in several days or even the day the decision is pronounced. So, the citizen can see the arguments and take a decision as to the filing of complaints to the European Court,” said Alexandru Postica.

The period for submitting applications to the European Court of Human Rights was shortened from six to four months by amending Article 35 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The modification was approved by Protocol No. 15 that comes into force on February 1 this year following its ratification by Italy, which is the last state that signed the Convention.