European Court of Human Rights

Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)53¹

Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights

Vrbica against Croatia

(Application No. 32540/05, judgment of 01/04/2010, final on 01/07/2010)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);

Having regard to the judgment transmitted by the Court to the Committee once it had become final;

Recalling that the violations of the Convention found by the Court in this case concern unlawful interference with the applicant’s right to peaceful enjoyment of his property and the violation of his right to access to a court resulting from the wrongful refusal of the domestic court to enforce a foreign judgment because the ten-year limit for seeking enforcement had expired (violations of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 and Article 6, paragraph 1) (see details in Appendix);

Having invited the government of the respondent state to inform the Committee of the measures taken to comply with its obligation under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention to abide by the judgment;

Having examined the information provided by the government in accordance with the Committee’s Rules for the application of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention;

Recalling that a finding of violations by the Court requires, over and above the payment of just satisfaction awarded by the Court in its judgments, the adoption by the respondent state, where appropriate:

- of individual measures to put an end to the violations and erase their consequences so as to achieve as far as possible restitutio in integrum; and

- of general measures preventing similar violations;

DECLARES, having examined the measures taken by the respondent state (see Appendix), that it has exercised its functions under Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention in this case and

DECIDES to close the examination of this case.

Appendix to Resolution CM/ResDH(2011)53

Information about the measures to comply with the judgment in the case of

Vrbica against Croatia

Introductory case summary

The case concerns the unlawful interference with the applicant’s right to peaceful enjoyment of his property and the violation of his right to access to a court resulting from the refusal of the Koprivnica Municipal Court on 08/06/2004 to enforce a foreign judgment of 15/10/1991, which had been recognised in Croatia on 20/11/2001, on the ground that the ten-year limit for seeking enforcement had expired (violations of Article 1, Protocol No. 1, and Article 6, paragraph 1).

The Court found that the view of the domestic courts that instituting proceedings for recognition of a foreign judgment on 16/10/2001 did not interrupt the running of a statutory limitation period was untenable. It noted that the manner in which the Koprivnica Municipal Court interpreted and applied the relevant domestic law had not been foreseeable for the applicant, who could have reasonably expected that instituting proceedings for recognition of a foreign judgment would suspend the statutory limitation period.

The Court also noted that the judgment of the Koprivnica Municipal Court had not been in line with the established case-law of the Croatian Supreme Court and held that, in these circumstances, the refusal of the domestic courts to allow the enforcement of a recognised foreign judgment infringed the principle of proportionality and thus impaired the very essence of the applicant’s right to access to a court.

I. Individual measures

The Court considered that the most appropriate way of redress would be to reopen the proceedings complained of in due course. In this respect, the Court noted that the applicant might file a reopening petition under Article 428a of the Civil Procedure Code. The proceedings have been reopened upon the applicant’s request. On 19/11/2010, the Municipal Court of Koprivnica rendered a judgment in the reopened proceedings and applied directly the Court’s case-law. The Municipal Court of Koprivnica considered therefore that the running of the statute of limitation in respect of the foreign award in this particular case has been interrupted. Consequently, no other individual measure was considered necessary by the Committee of Ministers.

II. General measures

It seems that this was an isolated violation resulting from the misapplication of the domestic law in this case. In view of the direct effect of the Convention in Croatia, publication of the Court’s judgment and its dissemination to the relevant courts should be sufficient to prevent similar violations. In this context it should be noted that the Court’s judgment has been translated into Croatian and sent out to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and to the courts involved in this case. It is also available on the Internet site of the Ministry of Justice (www.mprh.hr) and published in a periodic on the Court’s case-law.

III. Conclusions of the respondent state

The government considers that the measures adopted have fully remedied the consequences for the applicant of the violation of the Convention found by the European Court in this case, that these measures will prevent similar violations and that Croatia has thus complied with its obligations under Article 46, paragraph 1, of the Convention.