Information Note on the Court’s case-law 66
July 2004
K. v. Italy - 38805/97
Judgment 20.7.2004 [Section II]
Article 35
Article 35-1
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
Effective domestic remedy
Non-application of the Pinto law remedy by an applicant who was not party to the inter-state enforcement proceedings: preliminary objection dismissed
Extract (Article 6): “(…) the terms of Article 1 of Law no 89 of 2001 are sufficiently wide to demonstrate the existence of a remedy before the civil courts for the undue length of proceedings. By availing themselves of this remedy, applicants may obtain a ruling as to the compatibility of the proceedings at issue with the reasonable time requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and, if need be, to obtain just satisfaction.
However, in the Court’s opinion, the Government have not shown that an applicant, who is not a party to the domestic proceedings, albeit concerned by them, could effectively apply to the Court of Appeal. Moreover, it would appear that it is mainly for the Receiving Agency, within the meaning of the aforementioned UN Convention [on the recovery abroad of maintenance], to enforce the special procedure in the interests of the applicant. The Court concludes, therefore, that the applicant was dispensed from the obligation to exhaust the remedy suggested by the Government.”
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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