Published on 8 September 2025
SECOND SECTION
Application no. 34062/24
Pentti Olavi ALASALMI and Others
against Finland
lodged on 13 November 2024
communicated on 20 August 2025
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns excessive length of administrative law proceedings. The applicants are professional fishermen who claim that they could no longer fish in a lake because the lake was contaminated by sewage water emanating from mining activities. On 8 July 2020 their request for compensation was dismissed without examining the merits by a regional State Administrative Agency. On 20 July 2020 the applicants appealed against that decision, subsequently requesting also compensation for the excessive length of the proceedings. On 30 December 2022 the Administrative Court rejected the applicants’ appeal as well as their claim for compensation for excessive length of the court proceedings, considering that the length of two years and five months was not excessive vis-a-vis the extent and complexity of the case. On 6 September 2024 the Supreme Administrative Court refused the applicants leave to appeal.
The applicants complain, invoking Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, about the length of their administrative law proceedings.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Was Article 6 § 1 of the Convention under its civil head applicable to the proceedings in the present case? If so, was the length of the administrative law proceedings in the present case in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (see Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII, and Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v. Finland [GC], no. 931/13, § 209, 27 June 2017)?
APPENDIX
No.
Applicant’s Name
Year of birth
Nationality
Place of residence
1.
Pentti Olavi ALASALMI
1956
Finnish
Kajaani
2.
Mikko Olavi ALASALMI
1984
Finnish
Kajaani
3.
Tuula Senja PULKKINEN
1961
Finnish
Kajaani