NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

No. 83/2004 Coll., 565 which confirmed this practice and decided the concurrence between the constitutional complaint and the appeal on points of law. 566 Unfortunately, notwithstanding changes in legislation the practice of Czech courts may still lead to findings of violations by the Court in this respect. 567 There are different aspects of the right of access to a court in distinct CoE member states. Under certain circumstances, the length of the proceedings itself may denote deprivation of the right of access. The Court found a violation of the right of access to a court in the case of Västberga Taxi Aktiebolag and Vulic v. Sweden. 568 Here, the applicant company complained of the fact that the Swiss Tax Authority’s decisions concerning additional taxes and tax surcharges had been enforced prior to a court determination of the disputes. In particular, it maintained that the tax assessment proceedings had not been determined within a reasonable time and they had been unable to obtain a fair hearing in those proceedings. The Court concluded that the Tax Authority and the domestic courts have failed to act with the urgency required by the circumstances of the cases, and thereby unduly delayed court determinations of the main issues concerning the imposition of additional taxes and tax surcharges. It concluded that the delay in obtaining such a determination signified that the access to court was not effective. In the sphere of banking, the Court dealt with the right of access to a court in the previously discussed case of Credit and Industrial Bank v. the Czech Republic. 569 This case concerned the imposition of compulsory administration on the applicant bank and the inability to appeal against such decision. The Czech National Bank (‘CNB’), by placing compulsory administration on the bank, left to its statutory organ only limited competence without the possibility to file submissions before domestic courts. The applicant’s appeal against the compulsory administration was dismissed as having been introduced by an unauthorised person. The statutory organ of the bank was therefore deprived of any means of redress in breach of Article 6 of the Convention. This practice was also confirmed in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian National Bank’s (‘BNB’) behaviour, which was inconsistent with the Convention, was an issue in the case of Capital Bank AD v. Bulgaria. 570 In the instant case, the BNB revoked a licence of the applicant bank and put it into compulsory liquidation. In the proceedings before domestic courts, the applicant was represented by special administrators appointed by, and answerable to, the BNB. In view of the impossibility of the applicant bank’s ability to challenge the BNB’s decision before national courts, the Court concluded 565 Law No. 83/2004 Coll. (entry into force 1 April 2004). 566 ČERNÝ, P. and STAVĚLÍK, P. Vliv Evropského soudu pro lidská práva na řízení před Ústavním soudem ČR. URL: accessed 22 February 2015. 567 See, Regálová v. the Czech Republic , no. 40593/05, 3 July 2008 and Vokoun v. the Czech Republic , no. 20728/05, 3 July 2008. 568 Västberga Taxi Aktiebolag, cited above. 569 Credit and Industrial Bank , cited above. 570 Capital Bank AD, cited above.

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