Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
October 1992
Salerno v. Italie - 11955/86
Judgment 12.10.1992
Article 6
Article 6-1
Reasonable time
Length of proceedings brought to obtain repayment of old-age insurance contributions: no violation
[This summary is extracted from the Court’s official reports (Series A or Reports of Judgments and Decisions). Its formatting and structure may therefore differ from the Case-Law Information Note summaries.]
A.Applicability
Applicant's argument: sufficiently tenable, since the authorities to which fresh application had been made in 1982 had held the action to be admissible.
Right claimed: undoubtedly a "civil" one.
Conclusion: applicable (unanimously).
B.Compliance ("reasonable time")
1.Period to be considered
Starting-point: institution of proceedings against the defendant fund.
End: date on which Court of Cassation's judgment was filed.
Result: nearly five years.
2.Relevant criteria
Reasonableness of length of proceedings: to be determined with reference to criteria laid down in Court's case-law and in the light of the circumstances of the case, which in this instance called for an overall assessment.
Several periods of inactivity were attributable to the State but, having regard to fact that case had come before three different courts, the delays were not substantial enough for total length of proceedings to have exceeded an acceptable limit.
Conclusion: no violation (unanimously).
© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights
This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.
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