European Court of Human Rights

FIFTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 386/05
BURDA-UKRAYINA, DP
against Ukraine

The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting on 4 January 2012 as a Chamber composed of:

Dean Spielmann, President,
Elisabet Fura,
Karel Jungwiert,
Boštjan M. Zupančič,
Mark Villiger,
Ganna Yudkivska,
Angelika Nußberger, judges,
and Stephen Phillips, Deputy Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 4 December 2004,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant company is a legal entity situated in Kyiv and registered in Ukraine as a subsidiary of the German company “Burda Verlag Osteuropa GmbH”. On 26 November 2001 the applicant company registered a commercial periodical “Dobryie Soviety” (“Useful Advice”; hereafter - the “Magazine”). The Ukrainian Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mrs Valeriya Lutkovska.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant company complained that the unfair competition procedure and sanctions applied to it for having published untrue information were incompatible with an Article 10 of the Convention.

THE LAW

By letter dated 20 April 2011 the Government’s observations were sent to the applicant’s representative, who was requested to submit any observations together with any claims for just satisfaction in reply by 11 June 2011.

By letter dated 3 October 2011, sent by registered post, the applicant and its representative were notified that the period allowed for submission of the applicant’s observations had expired on 11 June 2011 and that no extension of time had been requested. The representative’s attention was drawn to Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, which provides that the Court may strike a case out of its list of cases where the circumstances lead to the conclusion that the applicant does not intend to pursue the application. The applicant’s representative received this letter on 11 October 2011. However, no response has been received.

The Court considers that, in these circumstances, the applicant may be regarded as no longer wishing to pursue his application, within the meaning of Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 in fine, the Court finds no special circumstances regarding respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols which require the continued examination of the case.

In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the case out of the list.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Stephen Phillips Dean Spielmann
Deputy Registrar President