FOURTH SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 23928/13
Heloísa Maria RAMOS FETAL FERREIRA
against Portugal
The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 28 June 2016 as a Committee composed of:
Iulia Motoc, President,
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque,
Marko Bošnjak, judges,
and Andrea Tamietti, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 March 2013,
Having regard to the declaration submitted by the respondent Government on 17 February 2016 requesting the Court to strike the application out of the list of cases and the applicant’s reply to that declaration,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
1. The applicant, Ms Heloísa Maria Ramos Fetal Ferreira, is a Portuguese national, who was born in 1982 and lives in Charneca da Caparica.
2. The Portuguese Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Ms M. F. da Graça Carvalho, Deputy Attorney-General.
3. The applicant complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of civil proceedings to which she is a party and which have already lasted eight years. According to the last information received by the Court on 30 March 2016, the proceedings are still pending at first instance.
4. The application had been communicated to the Government.
THE LAW
5. After the failure of attempts to reach a friendly settlement, by a letter of 17 February 2016 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make a unilateral declaration with a view to resolving the issue raised by the application. They further requested the Court to strike out the application in accordance with Article 37 of the Convention.
6. The declaration provided as follows:
“Je soussignée Mme. M. F. da Graça Carvalho, procureur générale adjoint, déclare que le gouvernement portugais offre de verser à Heloísa Maria Ramos Fetal Ferreira, la somme de 5,200,00 euros (cinq mille deux cents euros) couvrant tout préjudice moral, et la somme de 500,00 (cinq cents euros) couvrant les frais et dépens, au titre de la requête enregistrée sous le no 23928/13.
Ces sommes seront exemptes de toute taxe éventuellement applicable et seront payées dans les trois mois suivant la date de la notification de la décision de radiation rendue par la Cour sur le fondement l’article 37 § 1 c) de la Convention. Le paiement vaudra règlement définitif de la cause.
A défaut de règlement dans ledit délai, le Gouvernement s’engage à verser, à compter de l’expiration de celui-ci et jusqu’au règlement effectif des sommes en question, un intérêt simple à un taux égal à celui de la facilité de prêt marginal de la Banque centrale européenne, augmenté de trois points de pourcentage.
Le Gouvernement reconnaît qu’en l’espèce il y a eu violation de l’article 6 § 1 de la Convention concernant l’action identifiée par la Cour : «Enforcement proceedings seeking payment of maintenance/Beginning: 20/05/2008/Still pending/1 level of jurisdiction/ 7 years, 5 months, 13 days.”
7. By a letter of 22 March 2016, the applicant indicated that she was not satisfied with the terms of the unilateral declaration.
8. The Court reiterates that Article 37 of the Convention provides that it may at any stage of the proceedings decide to strike an application out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to one of the conclusions specified under (a), (b) or (c) of paragraph 1 of that Article. Article 37 § 1 (c) enables the Court in particular to strike a case out of its list if:
“for any other reason established by the Court, it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application”.
9. It also reiterates that in certain circumstances, it may strike out an application under Article 37 § 1 (c) on the basis of a unilateral declaration by a respondent Government even if the applicant wishes the examination of the case to be continued.
10. To this end, the Court has examined the declaration in the light of the principles emerging from its case-law, in particular the Tahsin Acar judgment (Tahsin Acar v. Turkey (preliminary objections) [GC], no. 26307/95, §§ 75-77, ECHR 2003-VI; WAZA Sp. z o.o. v. Poland (Dec.), no. 11602/02, 26 June 2007; and Sulwińska v. Poland (Dec.), no. 28953/03, 18 September 2007).
11. The Court has established in a number of cases, including those brought against Portugal, its practice concerning complaints about the violation of one’s right to a hearing within a reasonable time (see, for example, Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII; Cocchiarella v. Italy [GC], no. 64886/01, §§ 69-98, ECHR 2006‑V; Majewski v. Poland, no. 52690/99, 11 October 2005; and Wende and Kukówka v. Poland, no. 56026/00, 10 May 2007; regarding to Portugal see Martins Castro and Alves Correia de Castro v. Portugal, no. 33729/06, 10 June 2008).
12. Having regard to the nature of the admissions contained in the Government’s declaration, as well as the amount of compensation proposed – which is consistent with the amounts awarded in similar cases – the Court considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 (c)).
13. Moreover, in light of the above considerations, and in particular given the clear and extensive case-law on the topic, the Court is satisfied that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and the Protocols thereto does not require it to continue the examination of the application (Article 37 § 1 in fine).
14. Finally, the Court emphasises that, should the Government fail to comply with the terms of their unilateral declaration, the application could be restored to the list in accordance with Article 37 § 2 of the Convention (Josipović v. Serbia (dec.), no. 18369/07, 4 March 2008).
15. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Takes note of the terms of the respondent Government’s declaration under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention and of the modalities for ensuring compliance with the undertakings referred to therein;
Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (c) of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 21 July 2016.
Andrea TamiettiIulia Motoc
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy