NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

hand, the longer period of time may be in compliance with the Convention, when the proceedings are of the nature that requires a substantial amount of time. 612 In the Association Ekin v. France case, 613 a French association named Ekin lodged the application with the Court. Relying on Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, the applicant association complained that the proceedings had been excessively lengthy. The Court reiterated that the Contracting States have an obligation under the Convention to organise their legal systems in such a way that their courts can guarantee to everyone the right to a final decision determining his or her civil rights and obligations within a reasonable time. The overall length of the proceedings for more than nine years in the instant case could not be considered ‘reasonable’, taking into account what was at stake in the litigation, and held that Article 6 of the Convention in respect of the applicant was violated. The application in the case of Saarekallas OÜ v. Estonia 614 lodged with the Court by the applicant company, Saarekallas OÜ, a private limited company registered in Estonia, also concerned the length of the proceedings. The Court supported the applicant notwithstanding the fact that the accusations made the applicant company’s representatives against the judges of the county court caused certain delays in the proceedings. Moreover, on several occasions, the applicant company’s representative lacked the authority to participate in the proceedings. Nevertheless, having examined all the materials of the case, the Court concluded that the length of the proceedings was excessive and failed to meet the ‘reasonable time’ requirement, and therefore breached Article 6 of the Convention. As result of this judgment, the Estonian Supreme Court’s Constitutional Review Chamber adopted, on 30 December 2008, a decree by which it recommended that the lower-level criminal courts decide any claims about unreasonable length of proceedings immediately after submission. The Supreme Court has proposed three possible remedies, namely, termination of the proceedings, acquittal, and taking the fact of the violation into account during sentencing. 615 The excessive length of civil or administrative proceedings was also subject to consideration in the Czech Republic. The Court has dealt with this issue mostly in relation to natural persons; however, it also found a breach of the reasonable time requirement in the case of Skoma, spol. s r. o. v. the Czech Republic . 616 In the Czech Republic, the compensatory remedy for unreasonable length of proceedings was introduced by Act No. 160/2006, which amended Act No. 82/1998, on Liability for Damage Caused in the Exercise of Public Authority. 617 This resulted in the pilot decision of the Court in the case of Vokurka v. the Czech Republic, 618 when the 612 Bordikov v. Russia , no. 921/03, §§ 99-106, 8 October 2009. 613 Association Ekin , cited above. 614 Saarekallas OÜ , cited above. 615 SUSI, Mart. The Estonian Judicial Systém in Search of an Effective Remedy against Unreasonable Length of Proceedings. Juridica International , XVI/2009, p. 202. 616 Skoma, spol. s r. o. v. the Czech Republic , no. 21377/02, 14 February 2006. 617 Act of the Czech Parliament No. 160/2006 Coll., 16 March 2006. 618 Vokurka v. the Czech Republic (dec.), no. 40552/02, 16 October 2007.

114