Information Note on the Court’s case-law No.
September 1993
Zumtobel v. Austria - 12235/86
Judgment 21.9.1993
Article 6
Article 6-1
Access to court
Fair hearing
Public hearing
Expropriation proceedings: access to a court with full jurisdiction and with proceedings affording fair and public trial: 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.Right of access to a court
(a)The Office of the Vorarlberg Government: not a "tribunal" for the purposes of Article 6 § 1.
(b)Constitutional Court: did not have full jurisdiction as required by Article 6 § 1 in this instance.
(c)Regard being had to respect which must be accorded to decisions taken by the administrative authorities on grounds of expediency and to nature of applicant partnership's complaints, scope of Administrative Court's power of review satisfied requirements of Article 6 § 1.
B.Lack of hearing in the Administrative Court
Unequivocal waiver by the applicant partnership of right to hearing - dispute did not give rise to questions of public interest making hearing necessary.
C.Other complaints
Complaints concerning lack of independence of experts consulted by regional authorities and failure to communicate documents: related to proceedings before Government Office - were examined and rejected by the Administrative Court under a procedure which was in conformity with Article 6 § 1.
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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