Common European Asylum System in a Changing World

as a whole, relying on the human rights standards contained in the EU Charter and the founding values of the Union.

The CURIA case law database provides free access to ECJ/CJEU case law: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/ – section “Case law”.

The European Court of Human Rights The European Court for Human Rights (ECtHR) hears complaints by individuals and references by States against acts or omissions by a public authority violating the ECHR. These complaints may be brought against any of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe including all 27 EU Member States. Note: Protocol No. 16 to the Convention allows the highest courts and tribunals of a State Party to request the Court to give advisory opinions on questions of principle relating to the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms defined in the Convention or the protocols thereto. Protocol No. 16 came into force on 1 August 2018 in respect of the States which have signed and ratified it. The ECtHR is an international court set up in 1949 in the framework of the Council of Europe and rules on alleged violations of the civil and political rights secured in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Judgements made by the ECtHR are binding on the States parties concerned. Both states and individuals can apply to the court. ECtHR case law is of great importance and has made the Convention a powerful living instrument. The ECtHR protects all individuals within the jurisdiction of any of its 47 states, regardless of their citizenship or residence status. In order to lodge a complaint a number of admissibility requirements needs to be met. Primarily: all effective domestic remedies must have been exhausted and that a claim must be brought before the ECtHR within six months of the final domestic decision 1 . The case should be “substantially new”, not violating ECHR provisions or manifestly ill-founded, or an abuse of the right of application (Article 35 of the ECtHR). Unlike the CJEU, ECHR decides the case before it in rem and where required, includes factual findings. Its judgments are binding on the parties to the application made.

The HUDOC database provides free access to ECtHR case law: https://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=caselaw/HUDOC&c=

National Courts Member States’ courts hear complains against acts or omissions by an EU Member State violating EU (or of course domestic) law. They are under an obligation to ensure that EU law is correctly applied and may – and sometimes must – refer the case to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of the EU provision concerned. They

1 Check the Protocol 15 to the Convention

90