CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 21 décembre 2009

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s598389F8 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center; font-size:11pt } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .sA678F94A { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right; font-size:11pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s2E932ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:11pt } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4BAE41EE { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s92A5AB2 { font-family:Arial; font-size:11pt; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s11AD46B1 { font-family:Arial; font-size:7.33pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s99A63BFE { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:11pt } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .s9FE28126 { margin-top:0pt; margin-right:42.5pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left; font-size:11pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s5FFF0A7F { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:9pt } .sBACB86A2 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 }   983 21.12.2009   Press release issued by the Registrar   FIRST JUDGMENTS ADOPTED BY THREE JUDGES   UNDER THE COURT’S NEW PROCEDURES   Following the decisions taken at the Madrid Ministerial session in May 2009 (see Press Release No.391(2009) ), the Court is able to make use of certain procedures provided for in Protocol No.   14 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been ratified by all 47 member States of the Council of Europe with the exception of the Russian Federation, but cannot enter into force until the last State ratifies. These procedures, which are intended to help the Court tackle its heavy caseload, apply solely to those countries which have accepted them either by ratifying Protocol No. 14 bis (adopted in Madrid) or by agreeing to the provisional application of Protocol No. 14.   Under these procedures, the number of judges dealing with certain categories of straightforward cases is modified. A single judge is now empowered to reject clearly inadmissible applications, a task previously reserved for a three-judge Committee. Decisions have been adopted in this way since July 2009 ( see Press Release no. 562 ). Furthermore, a three-judge Committee is now entitled to declare applications admissible and give judgment on the merits, in cases where the issues concerned are the subject of well-established case law by the Court. Before, only Chambers (seven judges) or the Grand Chamber (seventeen judges) could declare cases admissible and render judgments.   Tomorrow, Tuesday 22 December 2009 at 11 a.m., the Court will be notifying in writing its first judgments on the merits adopted by a three-judge Committee, in two cases concerning Germany. In both cases ( Kressin v. Germany (no. 21061/06) and Jesse v. Germany (no.   10053/08)), the applicants complain of the excessive length of judicial proceedings.   To date, eight countries have ratified Protocol No. 14 bis (Denmark, Georgia, Iceland, Ireland, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Slovenia) and thirteen others have signed it prior to ratification (Austria, Cyprus, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Ukraine). Ten countries (Albania, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) have entered declarations agreeing to the provisional application of Protocol No. 14.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ) [1] .   Press contacts Stefano Piedimonte (tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 42 04) or Tracey Turner-Tretz (tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Kristina Pencheva-Malinowski (tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 35 70) Céline Menu-Lange (tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 58 77) Frédéric Dolt (tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 53 39) Nina Salomon (tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21 49 79)   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] This press release is a document produced by the Registry. It does not bind the Court.