FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

PILOT-JUDGMENT PROCEDURE

Application no. 13743/05
by Beata SKOTNICKA and Others
against Poland

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 23 September 2008 as a Chamber composed of:

Nicolas Bratza, President,
Lech Garlicki,
Giovanni Bonello,
Ljiljana Mijović,
David Thór Björgvinsson,
Ján Šikuta,
Päivi Hirvelä, judges,
and Lawrence Early, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 4 March 2005,

Having regard to the decision to apply the pilot-judgment procedure and to adjourn its consideration of applications deriving from the same systemic problem identified in the case of Broniowski v. Poland (no. 31443/96),

Having regard to the decisions to strike the applications Wolkenberg and Others v. Poland (no. 50003/99) and Witkowska-Toboła v. Poland (no. 11208/02) out of the Court's list of cases,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicants, Ms Beata Skotnicka (“the first applicant”), Ms Halina Reichel-Ferenc (“the second applicant”), Mr Bohdan Reicher (“the third applicant”), Mr Janusz Ożyński (“the fourth applicant”), Ms Maria Łucyk‑Wieliczko (“the fifth applicant”) and Ms Iwona Błaszczak (“the sixth applicant”), are Polish nationals who were born in 1971, 1947, 1924, 1946, 1954 and 1956 respectively. The first and second applicants live in Gorzanów. The third applicant lives in Wrocław. The fourth applicant lives in Kraków. The fifth applicant lives in Warsaw. The sixth applicant lives in Mielec.

A. Historical background to Bug River cases before the Court

(See E.G. v. Poland, no. 50425/99, §§ 2-5).

B. Particular circumstances of case no. 13743/05

The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.

On 22 January 2001 the Mayor of the Mielec District (Starosta) issued a certificate c