NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

to a court, as secured by Article 6 of the Convention. Taking into account the results of this judgment, the High Commercial Court of Ukraine, on 24 July 2008, adopted the internal document No. 01-8/451 in accordance with which it required the lower courts to ensure access to courts in Ukraine. 559 The inability to submit an appeal to the Czech Constitutional Court was an issue in the case of Vodárenská akciová společnost , S.A. v. the Czech Republic. 560 The applicant was a limited company incorporated under Czech law, which in June 1997 dismissed one of its employees. The employee, who did not agree with the company’s decision, instituted the proceedings before domestic courts. Having absolved the proceedings before the district and regional courts, the applicant company appealed on points of law to the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic and lodged a constitutional appeal in order to comply with the statutory time limit for such appeals. In March 2000, the Czech Constitutional Court declared the applicant company’s appeal inadmissible for failure to exhaust statutory remedies, namely because of the absence of the Czech SupremeCourt judgment. After obtaining a decision fromthe SupremeCourt, which declared the appeal on points of law inadmissible, the applicant company lodged a second constitutional appeal. On 13 February 2001, a different division of the Constitutional Court dismissed that appeal as being time-barred. The Court observed that the Constitutional Court’s two decisions had been contradictory and likely to cause confusion as to the date on which the time for lodging a constitutional appeal begins to run. This had impaired the very essence of the right of appeal, imposing a disproportionate burden on the applicant. Consequently, such a requirement was not in compliance with the right of access to court. 561 The Court, therefore, held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention. This case was not the first where the Court decided a question of the time limit for lodging a constitutional appeal in the Czech Republic. 562 As a result, it led the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic to issue the announcement No. 32/2003 Coll., 563 in accordance with which it unified the practice of the courts. 564 From that moment, in the case of concurrence of the constitutional complaint with the appeal on points of law, the time for lodging a constitutional appeal began to run from the date of the decision of the Supreme Court. Finally, the legislature adopted Law 559 Informational letter of the High Commercial Court of Ukraine No. 01-8/451 of 24 July 2008 (“Про внесення змін до інформаційного листа Вищого господарського суду України від 18. 11. 2003 N 01-8/1427 ”Про Конвенцію про захист прав людини і основоположних свобод 1950 року та юрисдикцію Європейського суду з прав людини”) // Bulletin of commercial courts, May 2008, No. 5, page 68 (Вісник господарського судочинства від 05.2008 – 2008 р., № 5, стор. 68). 560 Vodárenská akciová společnost , S.A. v. the Czech Republic , no. 73577/01, 24 February 2004. 561 HUBÁLKOVÁ, E. Přehled judikatury Evropského soudu pro lidská práva . Právo na spravedlivé řízení a další procesní práva . ASPI, a.s., Praha 2006, p. 23. 562 Zvolský and Zvolská v. the Czech Republic , no. 46129/99, ECHR 2002-IX and Běleš and Others v. the Czech Republic , no. 47273/99, ECHR 2002-IX. 563 32/2003 Coll. Valid from 3 February 2003. 564 K rozsudkům ESLP ve věcech Vokoun a Regálová proti ČR . Tiskové prohlášení ministerstva spravedl nosti k rozsudkům Evropského soudu pro lidská práva ve věcech Vokoun proti České republice a Re gálová proti České republice // Profipravo.cz / Monitoring 04. 07. 2008. URL: accessed 20 July 2015.

106