NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

effectiveness of the compensatory remedy for unreasonable length of proceedings was discussed. The Court concluded that this remedy needs to be exhausted, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, prior to complaining about any unreasonable length of the domestic proceedings. The first of these remedies proposed by the law is a motion lodged with the courts for the imposition of a time limit for performing a procedural act under Act No. 6/2002, on Courts and Judges. 619 However, the Court found this preventive remedy to be ineffective. 620 The government responded to the Court’s criticism of this remedy by amending Section 174a of Act No. 6/2002 (Act No. 7/2009), which came into effect on 1 July 2009. This change was considered acceptable, which was confirmed in the Court’s judgment in Macready v. the Czech Republic 621 and in its judgment in Bergman v. the Czech Republic . 622 In respect of the remedy introduced by Act No. 82/1998, the Court concluded that this was an effective remedy. However, the Court expressly voiced its concern that the decision-making process for granting just satisfaction may take too long. It noted that the Ministry of Justice first makes a decision on the application, and then a court hears the case next, against the decision of which an appeal can be submitted, and it can then be appealed again. On 29 May 2013, the CoE Committee of Ministers adopted Resolution CM/ ResDH(2013)89. 623 This document states that the compensatory court proceedings in the Czech Republic on average, including those on an appeal, took a year and a half. It was confirmed that this period is in compliance with the Convention requirements. Estonia and the Czech Republic are not the only countries that tried to solve the problem of unreasonable length. Poland, Italy and the other CoE countries made the same effort. 624 Nevertheless, the complaints in this respect are still subject to Court consideration. It dealt with an issue of the excessive length of proceedings in many other cases. 625 In some of them, such as Longotrans – Transportes Internacionais, Lda v. Portugal , 626 parties came to a friendly settlement and the Court struck out the case from its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention. 2.2.6 Non-enforcement As mentioned before, the guarantees of a fair trial apply not only to the proceedings before courts, but also before and after a trial. The reasonable length requirement 619 Act of the Czech Parliament No. 6/2002 Coll., 30 November 2001. 620 Resolution CM/ResDH(2013)89 Bořánková and Hartman and 69 other cases against the Czech Republic Execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of 29 May 2013. 621 Macready v. the Czech Republic , nos. 4824/06 and 15512/08, § 51, 22 April 2010. 622 Bergmann v. the Czech Republic , no. 8857/08, § 49, 27 October 2011. 623 Resolution CM/ResDH(2013)89, cited above. 624 HUBÁLKOVÁ, E. K účinnosti právních prostředků nápravy ve stížnostech na průtahy soudního řízení (judikatura Štrasburského soudu). Bulletin Advokacie , 2004, No. 10, p. 9-14. 625 Wohlmeyer Bau GmbH v. Austria , no. 20077/02, 8 July 2004; JGK Statyba Ltd and Guselnikovas v. Lithuania , no. 3330/12, 5 November 2013; Comingersoll S.A. v. Portugal [GC], no. 35382/97, ECHR 2000-IV, Västberga Taxi Aktiebolag, cited above, and Agrokompleks, cited above. 626 Longotrans – Transportes Internacionais, Lda v. Portugal (friendly settlement), nos. 50843/99, 51193/99 and 51194/99, 3 October 2002.

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