Published on 29 January 2024
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 56285/22
Hanna SOŁTYS
against Poland
lodged on 15 November 2022
communicated on 9 January 2024
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The present application is a follow-up case to the leading judgment Bieliński v. Poland, no. 48762/19, 21 July 2022. It concerns an amendment to legislation by which retirement benefits of former uniformed services were considerably decreased.
The applicant has been involved in civil proceedings relating to her appeal against the decision decreasing her old-age pension. The decision decreasing the pension was immediately enforceable. The proceedings before the first instance court were stayed pending the decision of the Constitutional Court which, on 24 January 2018, had been asked legal questions as regards the constitutionality of the provisions introducing new calculation methods for old-age pensions. Subsequently, the proceedings were resumed even though the Constitutional Court had issued no judgment. They are currently pending before the Regional Court.
The applicants made use of the available remedy against the excessive length of judicial proceedings; she lodged a complaint under the 2004 Act. Her complaint was dismissed by the Court of Appeal which held, among other things, that the length of proceedings could not be attributable to the Regional Court which had stayed the proceedings pending examination of the legal questions put before the Constitutional Court.
The applicant complains under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the excessive length of proceedings and that the length effectively deprived her of access to court. She also alleges, under Article 13 of the Convention, that she has no effective remedy to challenge the excessive length of proceedings in her cases.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Did the applicant have access to a court for the determination of her civil rights and obligations, in accordance with Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
2. Was the length of the civil proceedings in the present application in breach of the “reasonable time” requirement of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention? Reference is made to the fact that the dispute concerns the calculation of an old‑age pension and the decision decreasing the pension was immediately enforceable.
3. Did the applicant have at her disposal an effective remedy to put before the domestic authorities the alleged violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, as required by Article 13 of the Convention?