Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 73
March 2005
Kiurkhian v. Bulgaria - 44626/98
Judgment 24.3.2005 [Section I]
Article 6
Civil proceedings
Article 6-1
Reasonable time
Administrative proceedings to be included when calculating the overall length of proceedings, whenever an applicant was required to exhaust such a preliminary procedure
The applicants complained inter alia that the length of proceedings under the Territorial and Urban Planning Act had exceeded a reasonable time. The Court recalled that when an applicant is required by national legislation to exhaust a preliminary administrative procedure before having recourse to a court, the proceedings before the administrative body are to be included when calculating the length of the proceedings for the purposes of Article 6. The Court noted that prior to the court proceedings, in 1992, the applicants had filed objections with the competent municipal authorities against their neighbours’ request for legalisation of a construction allegedly interfering with the applicants’ use of their home. Hence the period to be taken into consideration for the purpose of Article 6 had started to run in 1992 and had lasted over five years and six months, comprising the proceedings before the municipal authorities and two court levels.
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This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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