FIRST SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 60786/13
Karel POLATA and Marcela POLATOVÁ
against the Czech Republic
The European Court of Human Rights (First Section), sitting on 7 March 2017 as a Committee composed of:
Ledi Bianku, President,
Aleš Pejchal,
Jovan Ilievski, judges,
and Renata Degener, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 22 September 2013,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The applicants, Mr Karel Polata and Ms Marcela Polatová, are Czech nationals, who were born in 1961 and 1968 respectively and live in Prague. They were represented before the Court by Mr S. Němec, a lawyer practising in Prague.
The Czech Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Vít A. Schorm, from the Ministry of Justice.
The applicants, the owners of a flat in Prague rented under the State rent-control scheme, complained under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 that the scheme violated their right to property which the State had failed to protect.
After the Government had been given notice of the application they informed the Court, by a letter dated on 16 January 2017, that they had reached a settlement with the applicant, and submitted a common declaration signed by the parties that reads as follows:
“The Government of the Czech Republic, represented before the European Court of Human Rights by their Agent Mr Vít Alexander Schorm (‘the Government’),
and
Karel Polata and Marcela Polatová, represented by their counsel Mr Stanislav Němec (‘the Applicants’),
declare that:
1. they have reached a friendly settlement of case no. 60786/13 – Polata and Polatová v. the Czech Republic (‘the Application’) pending before the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’),
2. the Government will pay the Applicants, within three months from the publication of the decision by which the Court strikes the Application out of its list of cases pursuant to Article 39 § 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, a total amount of EUR 14,500 (fourteen thousand five hundred euros) to a bank account that the Applicants will specify to the Ministry of Justice without undue delay upon request,
3. the above-mentioned sum is to cover any and all pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, plus any tax that may be chargeable to the Applicants; the Government note in this context that according to Article 3 § 4(d) of Act no. 586/1992, on income tax, payment based on a friendly settlement of a case before the Court is not subject to personal income tax,
4. if the above-mentioned amount is not paid within the said period of three months, then from the expiry date of that period until payment, a simple interest on the amount shall be paid at an annual rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank plus three percentage points,
5. the Applicants waive any further claims against the Czech Republic based on the facts of the Application and regard this friendly settlement as the final resolution of the Application,
6. the Applicants take due note of the fact that in order to bind the Czech Republic the terms of this declaration are subject to further approval by the Government in accordance with applicable procedures; the Government shall notify the declaration to the Court after the approval has been given.”
THE LAW
In the light of the above, the Court considers that the matter has been resolved within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (b) of the Convention and that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols does not require it to continue the examination of the application under Article 37 § 1 in fine.
Accordingly, the case should be struck out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.
Done in English and notified in writing on 30 March 2017.
Renata DegenerLedi Bianku
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy