How to Lodge an Application Before the European Court of Human Rights

Here are guidelines on how to lodge an application before the European Court of Human Rights. According to article 34 of the European Convention on Human Rights, individual applications can be lodged with the European Court of Human Rights:

“The Court may receive applications from any person, nongovernmental organization or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the High Contracting Parties of the rights set forth in the Convention or the Protocols thereto. The High Contracting Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.”

Rule 47 of the Rules of Court set ou

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t the conditions for applying to the Court and for lodging a complete and valid application:

“1. An application under Article 34 of the Convention shall be made on the application form provided by the Registry, unless the Court decides otherwise. It shall contain all of the information requested in the relevant parts of the application form and set out
(a) the name, date of birth, nationality and address of the applicant and, where the applicant is a legal person, the full name, date of incorporation or registration, the official registration number (if any) and the official address;
(b) the name, address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address of the representative, if any;
(c) where the applicant is represented, the dated and original signature of the applicant on the authority section of the application form; the original signature of the representative showing that he or she has agreed to act for the applicant must also be on the authority section of the application form;
(d) the name of the Contracting Party or Parties against which the application is made;
(e) a concise and legible statement of the facts;
(f) a concise and legible statement of the alleged violation(s) of the Convention and the relevant arguments; and
(g) a concise and legible statement confirming the applicant’s compliance with the admissibility criteria laid down in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention.
2. (a) All of the information referred to in paragraph 1 (e) to (g) above that is set out in the relevant part of the application form should be sufficient to enable the Court to determine the nature and scope of the application without recourse to any other document.
(b) The applicant may however supplement the information by appending to the application form further details on the facts, alleged violations of the Convention and the relevant arguments. Such information shall not exceed 20 pages.
3.1. The application form shall be signed by the applicant or the applicant’s representative and shall be accompanied by
(a) copies of documents relating to the decisions or measures complained of, judicial or otherwise;
(b) copies of documents and decisions showing that the applicant has complied with the exhaustion of domestic remedies requirement and the time-limit contained in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention;
(c) where appropriate, copies of documents relating to any other procedure of international investigation or settlement;
(d) where the applicant is a legal person as referred to in Rule 47 § 1 (a), a document or documents showing that the individual who lodged the application has the standing or authority to represent the applicant.
3.2. Documents submitted in support of the application shall be listed in order by date, numbered consecutively and be identified clearly.
4. Applicants who do not wish their identity to be disclosed to the public shall so indicate and shall submit a statement of the reasons justifying such a departure from the normal rule of public access to information in proceedings before the Court. The Court may authorise anonymity or grant it of its own motion.
5.1. Failure to comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 to 3 of this Rule will result in the application not being examined by the Court, unless
(a) the applicant has provided an adequate explanation for the failure to comply; (b) the application concerns a request for an interim measure;
(c) the Court otherwise directs of its own motion or at the request of an applicant. 5.2. The Court may in any case request an applicant to provide information or documents in any form or manner which may be appropriate within a fixed time-limit.
6. (a) The date of introduction of the application for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention shall be the date on which an application form satisfying the requirements of this Rule is sent to the Court. The date of dispatch shall be the date of the postmark.
(b) Where it finds it justified, the Court may nevertheless decide that a different date shall be considered to be the date of introduction.
7. Applicants shall keep the Court informed of any change of address and of all circumstances relevant to the application.”

I. SUBMISSION OF AN APPLICATION FORM

In order to lodge an application, the required application form can be found on the website of the European Court of Human Rights. This form should be downloaded, completed, printed out and sent by post, together with the necessary documents, to the following address:

The Registrar
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex

If you decide to apply to the Court, please ensure that your application complies with Rule 47 of the Rules of Court, which sets out the information and documents that must be provided. Failure to provide any of the information or documents required by Rule 47 §§ 1 and 2 will result in the complaints not being examined by the Court. It is imperative that all fields in the application form are filled in. The applicant or the designated representative must sign the application form. If represented, both the applicant and the representative must sign the authority section of the application form. Neither the application form nor the authority section can be signed per procurationem (p.p.).

II. FORM AND CONTENT OF THE APPLICATION FORM

A. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
The submissions in the application form concerning the facts, complaints and compliance with the requirements of exhaustion of domestic remedies and the time-limit set out in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention must respect the conditions set out in Rule 47 of the Rules of Court.
Any additional submissions, presented as a separate document, must not exceed 20 pages (see Rule 47 § 2 (b)) and should:
a) be in an A4 page format with a margin of not less than 3.5 cm;
b) be wholly legible and, if typed, the text should be at least 12 pt in the body of the document and 10 pt in the footnotes, with one and a half line spacing;
c) have all numbers expressed as figures;
d) have pages numbered consecutively;
e) be divided into numbered paragraphs;
f) be divided into headings corresponding to "Facts", "Complaints or statements of violations" and "Information about the exhaustion of domestic remedies and compliance with the time-limit set out in Article 35 § 1"

All applicable fields in the application form must be filled in by use of words. Avoid using symbols, signs or abbreviations. Explain in words, even if the answer is negative or the question does not appear relevant.
The applicant must set out the facts of the case, his or her complaints and the explanations as to compliance with the admissibility criteria in the space provided in the application form.

The information should be enough to enable the Court to determine the nature and scope of the application and, as such, the completed application form alone should suffice. It is not acceptable merely to annex a statement of facts, complaints and compliance to the application form, with or without the mention “see attached”. Filling in this information on the application form is to assist the Court in speedily assessing and allocating incoming cases.
Additional explanations may be appended, if necessary, in a separate document up to a maximum of 20 pages: these only develop and cannot replace the statement of facts, complaints and compliance with the admissibility criteria that must be on the application form itself. An application form will not be regarded as compliant with Rule 47 if this information is not found on the form itself.

An applicant does not have to have legal representation at the introductory stage of proceedings. If he or she does instruct a lawyer, the authority section on the application form must be filled in. Both the applicant and the representative must sign the authority section. A separate power of attorney is not acceptable at this stage as the Court requires all essential information to be contained in its application form. If it is claimed that it is not possible to obtain the applicant’s signature on the authority section in the application form due to insurmountable practical difficulties, this should be explained to the Court with any substantiating elements. The requirement of completing the application form speedily within the six-month time-limit will not be accepted as an adequate explanation.

B. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR LEGAL PERSONS

A legal person (which includes a company, non-governmental organization or association) that applies to the Court must do so through a representative of that legal person who is identified in the relevant section of the application form and who provides contact details and explains his or her capacity or relationship with the legal person.
Proof must be supplied with the application form that the representative has authority to act on behalf of the legal person, for example an extract from the Chamber of Commerce register or minutes of the governing body.
The representative of the legal person is distinct from the lawyer authorized to act before the Court as legal representative. It may be that a legal person’s representative is also a lawyer or legal officer and has the capacity to act additionally as legal representative. Both parts of the application form concerning representation must still be filled in, and requisite documentary proof provided of authority to represent the legal person must be attached.

III. SUBMISSION OF ADDITIONAL REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

An application form must be accompanied by the relevant documents
(a) relating to the decisions or measures complained of;
(b) showing that the applicant has complied with the exhaustion of available domestic remedies and the time-limit contained in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention;
(c) showing, where applicable, information regarding other international proceedings. If the applicant is unable to provide a copy of any of these documents, he or she must provide an adequate explanation: merely stating that he or she encountered difficulties (in obtaining the documents) will not suffice if it can be reasonably expected for the explanation to be supported by documentary evidence, such as proof of indigence, a refusal of an authority to furnish a decision or otherwise demonstrating the applicant’s inability to access the document. If the explanation is not forthcoming or adequate, the application will not be allocated to a judicial formation.

Where documents are provided by electronic means, they must be in the format required. They must also be arranged and numbered in accordance with the list of documents on the application form.
An applicant who has already had a previous application or applications decided by the Court or who has an application or applications pending before the Court must inform the Registry accordingly, stating the application number or numbers.
Where an applicant does not wish to have his or her identity disclosed, he or she should state the reasons for his or her request in writing, pursuant to Rule 47 § 4.
The applicant should also state whether, in the event of anonymity being authorized by the President of the Chamber, he or she wishes to be designated by his or her initials or by a single letter (e.g. “X”, “Y” or “Z”).

IV. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION OR DIRECTIONS

Failure, within the specified time-limit, to provide further information or documents at the Court’s request or to comply with the Court’s directions as to the form or manner of the lodging of an application – including grouped applications or applications by multiple applicants – may result, depending on the stage reached in the proceedings, in the complaint(s) not being examined by the Court or the application(s) being declared inadmissible or struck out of the Court’s list of cases.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chihaoui Zouhaier
Lawyer Chihaoui is the founder of the law firm "Just Rights", and is specialized in petitioning before the European Court of Human Rights and in particular in drafting applications to the European Court, submitting requests for referral to the Grand Chamber, and in litigating before the Grand Chamber.