Information Note on the Court’s case-law
September 1994
Debled v. Belgium - 13839/88
Judgment 22.9.1994
Article 6
Article 6-1
Impartial tribunal
Independent tribunal
Impartiality of members of the French-language Appeals Board of the Ordre des médecins: no violation
[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]
Article 6 of the Convention
A.TRIBUNAL ESTABLISHED BY LAW
New complaint not raised before Commission - Court had no jurisdiction to entertain it.
B.INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL TRIBUNAL
Unnecessary to examine the issues of independence and impartiality separately.
Applicant's complaints in relation to the Appeals Board's independence already examined by the Court in the Albert and Le Compte judgment.
Purpose of Article 25 § 4, sub-paragraph 2, of Royal Decree no. 79 was to make it difficult to impose a more severe disciplinary penalty on appeal - fact that there was no tribunal to which jurisdiction could be transferred did not suffice to establish the Appeals Board's lack of impartiality or independence.
Personal impartiality of each of the members of the Board had to be presumed until there was proof to the contrary - danger of paralysis of whole disciplinary system if challenged members were excluded from all decisions concerning the challenges - each challenge was based on almost identical grounds, which were general and abstract in nature - no reference was made to specific, material facts that could have revealed personal animosity or hostility towards the applicant.
Conclusion: no violation (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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