CEDH · PRESS;FORTHCOMINGJUDGMENTS;ENG — 25 avril 2008

.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 } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   300 25.4.2008   Press release issued by the Registrar   FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT   29 April 2008   The European Court of Human Rights will be holding a public hearing in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on Tuesday 29 April 2008 at 9.30 a.m. (local time) to deliver its Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Burden v. the United Kingdom (application no. 13378/05).   The press release and the text of the judgment will be available after the hearing on the Court’s Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     Burden v. the United Kingdom The case concerns two British nationals, Joyce and Sybil Burden, who were born in 1918 and 1925 respectively. They are unmarried sisters and live in Marlborough (United Kingdom).   The applicants have lived together all their lives; for the last 30 years in a house built on land they inherited from their parents. Each sister has made a will leaving all her property to the other sister.   The sisters, both in their eighties, are concerned that, when one of them dies, the other will be forced to sell the house to pay inheritance tax. Under the 1984 Inheritance Tax Act, inheritance tax is charged at 40% on the value of a person’s property. That rate applies to any amount in excess of 285,000 pounds sterling (GBP) (420,844 euros (EUR)) for transfers during the tax year 2006-2007 and GBP   300,000 (EUR   442,994) for 2007-2008.   Property passing from the deceased to his or her spouse or “civil partner” (a category introduced under the 2004 Civil Partnership Act for same-sex couples, which does not cover family members living together) is currently exempt from charge.   The applicants complain that, when one of them dies, the survivor will face a heavy inheritance tax bill, unlike the survivor of a marriage or a civil partnership. They rely on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the European Convention on Human Rights, taken in conjunction with Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the Convention.   In its Chamber judgment of 12 December 2006, the Court held, by four votes to three, that there had been no violation of Article 14 taken in conjunction with Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.   On 8 March 2007 the applicants requested that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber under Article 43 [1] (referral to the Grand Chamber) and on 23 May 2007 the panel of the Grand Chamber accepted that request.     *** Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 91) Sania Ivedi (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 59 45)   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. [1] Under Article 43 of the European Convention on Human Rights, within three months from the date of a Chamber judgment, any party to the case may, in exceptional cases, request that the case be referred to the 17 ‑ member Grand Chamber of the Court. In that event, a panel of five judges considers whether the case raises a serious question affecting the interpretation or application of the Convention or its protocols, or a serious issue of general importance, in which case the Grand Chamber will deliver a final judgment. If no such question or issue arises, the panel will reject the request, at which point the judgment becomes final. Otherwise Chamber judgments become final on the expiry of the three-month period or earlier if the parties declare that they do not intend to make a request to refer.