SECOND SECTION
Application no. 29430/06
Vojkan KRGOVIĆ
against Serbia
lodged on 7 July 2006
STATEMENT OF FACTS
THE FACTS
The applicant, Mr Vojkan Krgović, is a Serbian national who was born in 1967 and currently lives in Stari Bar, Montenegro. At the relevant time he was a professional basketball player.
A. The circumstances of the case
The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
On 9 July 1997 the applicant filed a civil suit against a basketball club called “Vojvodina” BFC (Košarkaski klub “Vojvodina” BFC) from Novi Sad, for which he had been playing.
On 17 February 1998 the Municipal Court in Novi Sad (hereinafter “the Municipal Court”) ruled in favour of the applicant, ordering “Vojvodina” BFC (hereinafter “the debtor”) to pay him within fifteen days the total sum of 110,550 dinars[1] in respect of main debt and 8,500 dinars[2] in court expenses, together with the statutory interest accrued. On a later unspecified date this decision became final.
Following the applicant’s enforcement request of 15 October 1998, on
19 October 1998 the Municipal Court issued an enforcement order in respect of the decision of 17 February 1998.
It would appear that thereafter the debtor ceased to be active in the basketball leagues. It had allegedly been divided into three new clubs.
In the meantime, a new basketball club, named “NIS-Vojvodina”, appeared. Allegedly, the same person was acting as the director of both clubs (i.e. “Vojvodina” BFC and “NIS-Vojvodina”).
On 2 December 2000 the Accounting and Payments Service (Zavod za obračun i plaćanja) informed the Municipal Court that the debtor’s bank account was blocked, which appears to continue to date.
On 12 May 2003 the Municipal Court ordered enforcement against “NIS-Vojvodina”.
On 25 June 2003 the Central Bank unit in Novi Sad refused to enforce the order, alleging certain errors on the part of the Municipal Court.
On 14 July 2003 “NIS-Vojvodina” appealed against the enforcement order of 12 May 2003. It claimed not to have succeeded to the debtor.
On 1 April 2004 the competent three judge panel of the Municipal Court (hereinafter “the panel”) refused to decide on the appeal until the enforcement judge determined the liabilities of the debtor.
On 4 June 2004 “NIS-Vojvodina” filed a submission, rejecting any connection to the applicant’s debtor.
On 19 October 2004 the Municipal Court requested the applicant to comment on the submission of 4 June 2004 and propose further means of enforcement.
As the applicant failed to do so, on 11 January 2005 the Municipal Court suspended (obustavio) the enforcement against “NIS-Vojvodina”.
The applicant appealed.
On 14 February 2005 the panel instructed the enforcement judge to establish if there was any relationship between the debtor and “NIS‑Vojvodina” before transferring the file to the panel again.
On 30 May 2005 the Ministry of Education and Sport informed the Municipal Court that the applicant’s debtor has been registered in their register of sporting organisations since 3 August 1999, while “NIS‑Vojvodina” had never been registered.
In the proceedings that followed, the enforcement judge, relying on the Ministry’s information note of 30 May 2005, found that “NIS-Vojvodina” was not a legal successor of the debtor and transferred the case-file to the panel on 1 September 2005.
On 16 March 2006 the panel upheld the decision of 11 January 2005, finding that there were no grounds to continue enforcement against “NIS‑Vojvodina”.
There appear to have been no developments in the enforcement proceedings against the debtor since then.
B. The status of the debtor
The debtor, Basketball Club “Vojvodina” from Novi Sad, had been founded in 1948 by the Gymnastics Association of the Town of Novi Sad. It had been a part of the Sporting society called “Vojvodina” (Sportsko društvo Vojvodina) from Novi Sad, which had been entitled to the assets of the club in case of its cessation, together with the Novi Sad Municipal Gymnastics Federation. It would also appear that it had initially been registered as a social association (društveno udruženje), thereafter, as of 1988, as a social organisation (društvena organizacija) and finally, as of 3 August 1999, as a sporting organisation with the status of a citizens’ association (sportsko društvo sa statusom udruženja građana).
On 18 August 2006 the Ministry for Education and Sport registered the changes in respect of the debtor’s address, representative and the article of association, as decided by its Assembly on 7 July 2006.
C. Other relevant facts
“NIS-Vojvodina” appears to be currently registered as a basketball club called “Vojvodina Srbijagas”, a limited liability company, and is participating in various competitions.
On 7 May 2001 the Ministry of Education and Sport issued a decision attesting that “NIS-Vojvodina” provisionally meets the requirements to carry out basketball and other related sporting activities. “NIS-Vojvodina” was obliged to file for a permanent authorisation until 31 December 2001.
On 30 May 2005 the Ministry of Education and Sport confirmed that the debtor had been registered in their register of sporting organisations since 3 August 1999, while “NIS-Vojvodina” had never been registered.
D. Relevant domestic law
Domestic provisions of relevance to the status of sporting associations and organisations at the relevant time are to be found in: (i) the Sport Act 2011 (Zakon o sportu, published in Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia (“OG RS”), no. 24/2011); (ii) the Sport Act 1996 (Zakon o sportu, published in OG RS nos. 52/96 and 101/05); (iii) the Act on Social Organisations and Citizens’ Associations (Zakon o društvenim organizacijama i udruženjima građana, published in the Official Gazette of the Socialistic Republic of Serbia nos. 24/82, 39/83, 17/84, 50/84, 45/85 and 12/89 and in OG RS nos. 53/93, 67/93, 48/94 and 101/05); (iv) the Act on Associations, Social Organisations and Political Organisations in the SFRY (Zakon o udruživanju građana u udruženja, društvene organizacije i političke organizacije koje se osnivaju za teritoriju Socijalističke Federativne Republike Jugoslavije, published in the Official Gazette of the Socialistic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia no. 42/90 and in the Official Gazette of the Socialistic Republic of Yugoslavia nos. 24/94, 28/96 and 73/00) and (v) the Privatisation Act (Zakon o privatizaciji, published in OG RS nos. 38/01, 18/03 and 45/05). The Sport Act 2011 repealed the Sport Act 1996, the Act on Social Organisations and Citizens’ Associations and the Act on Associations, Social Organisations and Political Organisations in the SFRY.
Based on this legislation, sporting organisations had initially had the status of social associations (a relict of the former Yugoslav brand of communism and “self-management” similar to the socially-owned companies). The Sport Act 1996 ordered their transformation into citizens’ associations or corporations with socially-owned capital. According to the Sport Act 2011, all socially or State-owned sporting organisations should be privatised on the State’s or their own initiative and the funds obtained paid into the Privatisation Agency (Agencija za privatizaciju) and further, after the payment of the outstanding debts and the privatisation costs, to the State’s budget. The privatisation is governed by the Privatisation Act, unless provided otherwise by the Sport Act 2011.
COMPLAINT
The applicant complains under Article 6 of the Convention about the respondent State’s failure to enforce the final court judgment of 17 February 1998.
QUESTIONS
1. Does the Basketball Club “Vojvodina” BFC, the debtor in the domestic proceedings, continue to exist and participate in the basketball competitions in Serbia and/or internationally?
2. The Government are invited to clarify and document the legal status of sporting clubs/organisations in Serbia and, specifically, the legal status of the Basketball Club “Vojvodina” BFC or its legal successors, if any, as of 1996. In particular:
(i) who were the founders of the club, whose was the capital, what were the founder/ownership rights, what was the management structure, in what manner has the management of the club been appointed, and to whom did the management report?
(ii) whether the debtor club was/still is a socially-owned association and/or an association effectively controlled or managed by the State and, if so, to what extent (see, mutatis mutandis, Mykhaylenky and Others v. Ukraine, nos. 35091/02 et seq., ECHR 2004‑XII; and R. Kačapor and Others v. Serbia, nos. 2269/06 et seq., 15 January 2008)?
(iii) was the club privatised in accordance with the Sport Act 2011 (Zakon o sportu, published in Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 24/2011)?
3. Has there been a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? In particular, does the failure to enforce the final and enforceable judgment of 17 February 1998 in the applicant’s favour amount to a violation of this provision (see Hornsby v. Greece, 19 March 1997, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997-II and Pini and Others v. Romania, nos. 78028/01 and 78030/01, ECHR 2004-V; see also R. Kačapor and Others v. Serbia, cited above)?
4. The Government are also requested to submit three copies of the files concerning the enforcement of the relevant judgment, the files from the relevant registers run by the Serbian Business Registers Agency, the Commercial Court in Novi Sad and the competent Ministry concerning the “Vojvodina” BFC and “NIS-Vojvodina”, as well as the files, if any, provided by these two basketball clubs as required by Article 169 of the Sport Act 2011.
[1] Approximatelly 10,000 euros.
[2] Approximatelly 730 euros.
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