CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 24 février 2005

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s32B93E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:5pt } .s1E59FF54 { margin-top:5pt; margin-bottom:10pt } .s35F1F2CB { margin-top:10pt; margin-bottom:10pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s995BFA6B { margin-top:10pt; margin-bottom:5pt } .s9AE6264A { margin-top:5pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s18D96D33 { width:15.69pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s595A57E4 { width:85.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .sBF401EEE { width:32.35pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   086 24.2.2005   Press release issued by the Registrar   CHAMBER HEARING JURISIC AND COLLEGIUM MEHRERAU v. AUSTRIA and COORPLAN-JENNI Ges.mbH & ELVIR HASCIC v. AUSTRIA   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today Thursday 24   February 2005 at 9 a.m. on the admissibility and merits in the cases of Jurisic and Collegium Mehrerau v. Austria (application no. 62539/00) and Coorplan-Jenni Ges.mbH and Elvir Hascic v. Austria (no. 10523/02).   The applicants The applicants in the first case are: Ivan Jurisic, who has dual nationality, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatian, and who was born in 1968 and lives in Bregenz (Austria), and the Collegium Mehrerau, a monastery in Bregenz. Mr Jurisic has been living in Austria since 1992 on the basis of residence permits. In September 1998 he was granted an unlimited residence permit. He has a wife living in Austria who, in 2002, acquired Austrian nationality. The applicants in the second case are: Coorplan-Jenni Ges.mbH, a company based in Feldkirch (Austria), and Elvir Hascic, a Bosnia and Herzegovina national who was born in 1970. From 1991 to 1996 Mr Hascic lived in Austria without a valid residence permit. Since July 1996 he has been living in Austria with a valid residence permit (extended on a two-yearly basis). He has a wife living in Austria who acquired Austrian nationality in 2000. The couple have a daughter who was born in 1995. Summary of the facts On 6 February 1998 Mr Jurisic and the Collegium Mehrerau applied to the Bregenz Labour Market Service ( Arbeitsmarktservice ) for an employment permit allowing the Collegium Mehrerau to employ Mr Jurisic as a farm labourer. On 23 April 1998 Coorplan-Jenni Ges.m.b.H and Mr Hascic applied to the Feldkirch Labour Market Service for an employment permit allowing the applicant company to employ Mr Hascic as a carpenter. These applications were dismissed in accordance with the Employment of Foreigners Act ( Ausländerbeschäftigungsgesetz ), as the maximum quota fixed for the employment of foreigners in the region in question had been exceeded and there were no special circumstances justifying an exception. The applicants in both cases appealed. Referring, among other things, to the Geneva Refugee Convention, they submitted that Mr Jurisic and Mr Hascic had a right to employment in Austria. The Vorarlberg Labour Market Service subsequently dismissed the complaints from the monastry and the applicant company on the merits and rejected the complaints from Mr Jurisic and Mr   Hascic on the ground that only prospective employers had the right to file an application for an employment permit. Mr Jurisic and Mr Hascic were not therefore parties to the proceedings. In each case the applicants lodged complaints with the Administrative Court and requested that it hold an oral hearing. On 15 December 1999 and 19 December 2000 respectively, the Administrative Court, without holding a hearing, confirmed the Labour Market Services’ decisions. Complaints All the applicants complain under Article 6 (right to a fair hearing) of the European Convention on Human Rights about the lack of an oral hearing before the Administrative Court and the applicants in the second case complain under Article 6 about the length of the proceedings. Mr Jurisic and Mr Hascic further claim, under Article 6 – and under Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in Mr Hascic’s case – that they were denied access to a court as they had not been parties to the proceedings concerning the requested employment permits. Mr Hascic also relies on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), 8 (right to respect for family life) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination). Procedure   The first application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 7 August 2000 and the second application was lodged on 7 August 2001.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Christos Rozakis (Greek), President , Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), Nina Vajić (Croatian), Snejana Botoucharova (Bulgarian), Elisabeth Steiner (Austrian), Khanlar Hajiyev (Azerbaijani), Dean Spielmann (Luxemburger), judges , Anatoly Kovler (Russian), substitute judge , and also Santiago Quesada , Deputy Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government:   Hans Winkler , Agent ,   Ingrid Nowotny and Johanna Höller , Advisers ;   Applicant:   Wilfried Ludwig Weh and Rony Kolb , Counsel .     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility followed if appropriate by a judgment, will be delivered at a later date.   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 91   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. More detailed information about the Court and its activities can be found on its Internet site.