Protect Your Rights

What is the procedure for applying to the European Court of Human Rights
1. The European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter — the Court) is an international body which, under the conditions defined by the Convention, may consider applications submitted by persons complaining about violations of their rights guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter — the Convention). The Convention is an international treaty under which the majority of European states have undertaken to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. These rights are guaranteed both by the Convention itself and its protocols (Protocols Nos. 1, 4, 6, 7, 12, and 13), the binding nature of which has been agreed to by the states parties to the Convention.
2. You may apply to the Court if you believe that you are personally a victim of a violation by one of the states parties to the Convention of your rights or fundamental freedoms protected by the Convention and its protocols.
3. The Court may only consider applications alleging a violation of one or more rights guaranteed by the Convention and its protocols.
The European Court is a supranational international judicial institution that considers complaints from individuals regarding the violation of their rights by the states parties to the Convention.
In accordance with Article 19 of the Convention, the European Court was established to ensure that the High Contracting Parties observe their obligations under the Convention and its protocols. Pursuant to Article 32 of the Convention, the jurisdiction of the European Court extends to all matters concerning the interpretation and application of the Convention and its protocols which are referred to it in accordance with Articles 33, 34, and 47 of the Convention. Accordingly, the Court does not perform the functions of a national court and does not have the authority to quash or amend the decisions of national courts. The Court also cannot directly intervene in the activities of an authority whose act or omission caused the violation.
4. The Court may only consider applications directed against states that have ratified the Convention and the relevant protocols, and which concern events that occurred after the date of ratification (relevant information regarding the ratification dates of the Convention and its protocols is available on the official website of the European Court:
http://www.echr.coe.int/NR/rdonlyres/741F36BA-623E-4682-9884-84AA52491182/0/NoticeUKR.pdf).
5. You may apply to the Court only with complaints the subject matter of which falls within the responsibility of a public authority (e.g., parliament, court, prosecutor’s office, etc.) of one of these states. The Court does not consider applications directed against private individuals or non-governmental institutions.
6. According to Article 35 § 1 of the Convention, the Court only accepts applications for consideration after all domestic remedies have been exhausted, and only within six months from the date of the final decision. The Court will not consider an application that does not meet these admissibility conditions.
7. It is extremely important that, before applying to the Court, you use all domestic judicial remedies in the state against which the application is directed that could lead to the rectification of the violation that is the subject of the complaint; otherwise, you must prove that such remedies are ineffective. This means that you should first apply to the national courts with jurisdiction over the case, including the appropriate higher court, to protect your rights, the violation of which you intend to complain about to the Court. Furthermore, when using proper remedies, it is necessary to comply with national procedural rules, in particular the time limits provided for by legislation.
8. If your application concerns a decision of a national court, for example, a judgment, there is no need to attempt to have this decision reviewed again after you have exhausted the ordinary appellate procedure. It is also not necessary to use extrajudicial remedies or to address complaints or petitions, for example, to parliament, the head of state or government, a minister, or an ombudsman, as these remedies are not considered necessary to be exhausted before applying to the Court.
9. You may submit an application to the Court within six months after the adoption of the final decision by the court or authority whose competence includes the determination of the matter that is the subject of your application to the Court. The six-month period is calculated from the moment you or your lawyer become aware of the final judicial decision, following the conclusion of the ordinary appeal procedure at the national level, or — if you believe that an effective remedy for such a violation at the national level is absent — from the moment of the alleged violation.
10. The running of the six-month period stops at the moment the Court receives your first letter, which clearly sets out — even in a summary form — the subject matter of the application you intend to submit, or a completed application form. A simple request for information is not sufficient to stop the running of the six-month period.

HOW TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO THE COURT?

11. The official languages of the Court are English and French, but if you wish, you may correspond with the Registry of the Court in an official language of any of the states that have ratified the Convention. At the initial stage of the proceedings, the Court may also correspond with you in that language. However, if the Court does not declare the application inadmissible based on the documents sent and decides to invite the Government to submit its observations on the applicant’s complaints, the Court will conduct correspondence in English or French, and you or your representative, as a general rule, will be required to send subsequent observations in English or French.
12. The Court only accepts applications sent by post (not by telephone). If you send your application by email or fax, you must duplicate it by ordinary post. Furthermore, there is no need to be personally present in the Court to present the circumstances of the case orally.
All correspondence regarding a complaint must be sent to the following address:
The Registrar
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 STRASBOURG CEDEX
FRANCE.
Letters and documents sent to the Court should not be stapled, glued, or fastened in any other way. All pages must be numbered sequentially.
14. After receiving your first letter or application form, the Registry of the Court will send a reply notifying you that a case file has been opened under your name, the number of which must be mentioned in all subsequent letters to the Court. Subsequently, you may be contacted for additional information, documents, or clarifications related to the application.
The Registry of the Court does not provide information regarding the legislation of the state against which the application is directed, nor does it provide legal advice concerning the application or interpretation of national law.
15. You must respond to the letters of the Registry of the Court in a timely and diligent manner. Any delay in responding may be interpreted as a lack of interest in continuing the proceedings before the Court, and the consideration of the application will, accordingly, be discontinued.
16. If you believe that your application concerns one of the rights guaranteed by the Convention or its protocols and that all the admissibility conditions set out above are satisfied, you must carefully and legibly fill out the application form and return it to the Court as soon as possible and, in any case, no later than six months from the date of sending your first letter to the Registry of the Court. If the form and all necessary documents are not sent to the Registry of the Court before the expiry of the specified period, it will be construed as a lack of desire to pursue the application in the Court, and your file will consequently be destroyed.
17. In accordance with the provisions of Rule 47 of the Rules of Court, the application must:
a) provide a summary of the facts complained of and the nature of your complaints;
b) indicate the rights guaranteed by the Convention or its protocols which, in your opinion, have been violated;
c) name the national legal remedies you have used;
d) provide a list of decisions of courts (or other state authorities) in the case, indicating the date of each decision and the authority that issued it, as well as a brief summary of the content of such decision. Copies of the decisions themselves must be attached to the letter (the Court does not return documents sent to it, so it is necessary to send only copies, not originals).
18. Rule 45 of the Rules of Court requires that the application be signed by you as the applicant or by your representative.
19. If you do not wish to have your identity disclosed, you must state this in your application to the Court and set out the reasons justifying such a departure from the general rule of publicity of proceedings before the Court. In exceptional and justified cases, the President of the Section may grant permission for anonymity.
20. According to Rule 33 of the Rules of Court, all documents received by the Registry of the Court in connection with an application, except those submitted in relation to friendly settlement negotiations as provided for in Rule 62, shall be accessible to the public, unless the President of the Section decides otherwise for the reasons set out in paragraph 2 of this Rule — on their own initiative or at the request of a party or other interested person.
Thus, as a general rule, access to all information contained in documents provided by an applicant to the Registry of the Court, including information about persons referred to in the documents, is open. Furthermore, in the event that the Court sets out such information in a decision on admissibility or on the merits, or in a decision to strike a case out of the list of cases, it may be placed in the HUDOC database on the Court’s official website.
21. At the initial stage of submitting an application, you are not required to have a representative, and if you do have one, they do not necessarily have to be a lawyer. However, if the Court decides to invite the Government to express its position on the case, you will, as a general rule, be required to have a representative (except in special cases) who is a practising lawyer in one of the states that have ratified the Convention. The representative must have a command of one of the Court’s official languages (English or French).
If you wish to apply to the Court through a lawyer or other representative, you must attach a power of attorney to the application form authorising them to act on your behalf. A representative of a legal entity (company, association, etc.) or a group of persons must confirm their legal authority to represent the applicant.
22. The Court cannot provide you with assistance in paying for a lawyer’s services to prepare an application to the Court. Subsequently, namely after the Court decides to communicate the application to the Government for observations, you may, in the event of a lack of funds to pay for legal services, apply for legal aid if the Court considers such assistance necessary for the proper consideration of the case.
23. The proceedings before the Court are free of charge. The procedure for considering cases by the Court is written, which does not require your personal presence at the Court. You will be duly informed of any decision taken by the Court in your case.
This information has been prepared based on materials from the official website of the European Court:
http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/Header/Applicants/Information+for+applicants
Secretariat of the Government Agent for the European Court of Human Rights
(044) 207-46-19


Representatives of the Government Agent for the European Court of Human Rights and regional offices of the secretariat of the Government Agent for the European Court of Human Rights
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
Surname Vetrov Andriy Viktorovych
Telephone (0652) tel.: 27-23-54; fax: 54-63-05
[email protected]

Vinnytsia Region
Surname Vinnytska Tetiana Oleksandrivna Telephone (0432) tel.: 32-47-51, 32-58-71; fax: 32-58-71
[email protected]

Volyn Region
Surname Okhrymovych Oleksandr Leonidovych Telephone (0332) tel.: 76-01-85, fax: 76-00-77
[email protected]

Dnipropetrovsk Region
Surname Yeremenko Anna Valeriivna Telephone (0562) tel.: 46-70-74; fax: 46-70-78

Donetsk Region
Surname Kucheruk Serhii Leonidovych
Telephone (062) tel.: 290-73-36; fax: 334-39-73/

Zhytomyr Region
Surname Lidnov Anatolii Oleksandrovych Telephone (0412) tel.: 37-31-62; fax: 37-33-97

Zakarpattia Region
Surname Almashi Ivan Mykolaiovych Telephone (03122) tel., fax: 3-43-50
[email protected]

Zaporizhzhia Region
Surname Iniakina Maryna Volodymyrivna
Telephone (061) tel.: 224-60-80; fax: (0612) 39-01-55
[email protected]

Ivano-Frankivsk Region
Surname Kovalchuk Volodymyr Dmytrovych
Telephone (0342) tel.: 78-40-21, fax: 75-06-51;
[email protected]

Kyiv Region
Surname Shmorgun Roman Mykolaiovych
Telephone (044) tel.: 425-05-99; fax: 417-31-65;

Kirovohrad Region
Surname Tiurtiubek Rustam Mykhailovych
Telephone (0522) tel. fax: 24-66-52, 24-65-93;
[email protected]

Luhansk Region
Surname Filatova Tetiana Dmytrivna
Telephone (0642) tel.: 58-59-95; fax: 53-81-28

Lviv Region
Surname Kviatkovskyi Mykhailo Lvovych Telephone (0322) tel.: 75-64-46; fax: 74-31-66
[email protected]

Kyiv City
Surname Shokun Svitlana Mykolaivna Telephone (044) tel.: 279-83-22

Sevastopol City
Surname Lahoida Hanna Oleksandrivna Telephone (0692) tel.: 55-51-72, 55-06-18, fax: 55-36-41
[email protected]

Mykolaiv Region
Surname Pernatii Yelyzaveta Ivanivna Telephone (0512) tel.: 47-66-15; fax: 47-61-12
[email protected]

Odesa Region
Surname Martynenko Svitlana Valeriivna Telephone (048) tel.: 731-28-29; fax: (0482) 22-92-60
[email protected]

Poltava Region
Surname Marenko Liubov Mykolaivna Telephone (0532) tel.: 56-92-89; fax: 56-28-60
[email protected]

Rivne Region
Surname Hordiichuk Serhii Vasylovych Telephone (0362) tel.: 63-31-89; fax: 22-42-80
[email protected]

Sumy Region
Surname Troshechko Valentyna Viktorivna Telephone (0542) tel.: 22-07-08; fax: 21-00-38

Ternopil Region
Surname Nakelskyi Bohdan Yaroslavovych Telephone (0352) tel.: 52-20-63; fax: 52-22-92 [email protected]

Kharkiv Region
Surname Kovalenko Yuliia Yuriivna Telephone (057) tel., fax: 751-81-68 [email protected]

Kherson Region
Surname Kravchenko Iryna Olehivna Telephone (0552) tel.: 22-51-67; 42-31-21

Khmelnytskyi Region
Surname Muliar Nataliia Oleksandrivna Telephone (0382) tel.: 65-80-36
[email protected]

Cherkasy Region
Surname Pravednyk Oleksii Petrovych Telephone (0472) tel.: 37-72-50, fax: 45-24-23, 37-35-50
[email protected]

Chernivtsi Region
Surname Nikolaievych Tetiana Hryhorivna Telephone (0372) tel.: 55-27-20; fax: 55-27-60
[email protected]

Chernihiv Region
Surname Rozhets Serhii Mykhailovych Telephone (04622) tel.: 7-51-86; fax: 7-51-86
[email protected]

According to the official website of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine