Inapoi la Evenimente privind Justitia.

Press release issued by the Registrar 

 

 

the court applies the pilot-judgment procedure to romanian cases concerning the RESTITUTION of properties nationalised under communism

Over a period of almost fifteen years the European Court of Human Rights has dealt with large numbers of cases concerning the mechanism for the restitution of properties nationalised or confiscated by the communist State in Romania. More than 1,000 cases of this kind are currently pending before the Court, despite its sustained efforts to arrive at an overall settlement of the issue. In 2009 several hundred new applications of this type were lodged.

In view of the lack of significant progress on the issue in Romania, despite dozens of rulings by the Court in which it pointed to the ineffectiveness of the Romanian compensation mechanism, the Court has decided to apply the pilot-judgment procedure to these cases – via two applications which are to receive priority treatment – in the hope that this new initiative will result in steps being taken to put an end to this systemic problem.

The problem of restitution of properties nationalised or confiscated by the communist authorities in Romania

Several restitution laws have been adopted in Romania since the fall of the communist regime, based on the principle of restitution in kind or, where this is not possible, compensation. At certain times this compensation has been capped, at others not. At times it has been payable in monetary form, at times in money or shares, and since 2005 in the form of money or shares through the Proprietatea fund. However, as this fund is still not quoted on the stock exchange, its shares have no market value.

The legal uncertainty created by the plethora of legislative texts and the diverging practices of the domestic courts on this issue has resulted in delayed rulings concerning nationalised properties; to date, only a few thousand people out of the hundreds of thousands who have sought restitution have succeeded in recovering ownership of their properties or obtaining compensation.

The Court’s case-law on the restitution of properties nationalised or confiscated by the communist authorities in Romania

Since 1999 the Court has ruled on numerous occasions that the successive domestic law provisions concerning this compensation mechanism were ineffective. In its judgments in Viasu v. Romania (no. 75951/01, 9 December 2008), Katz v. Romania (no. 29739/03, 20 January 2009) and Faimblat v. Romania (no. 23066/02, 13 January 2009), the Court observed the large scale of the problem and suggested that legislative, administrative and budgetary measures be adopted in order to make the procedure established by the laws on compensation for immovable property genuinely consistent, accessible, speedy and foreseeable.

So far the Court has found over 150 violations in cases of this kind.

The Court’s new pilot-judgment procedure

In recent years the Court has developed a pilot-judgment procedure to enable it to deal with large groups of identical cases stemming from the same structural problem.

This procedure is aimed at reducing the Court’s caseload by tackling certain fundamental problems which are a source of repetitive applications. In addition, the introduction of an effective remedy at domestic level enables applicants to obtain redress more speedily than if each application were dealt with individually in Strasbourg.

The Court delivered its first pilot judgment in 2004, concerning cases against Poland. The procedure proved successful, resulting in the enactment of new legislation and settlement of the cases pending before the Court.

The Court has decided to treat Atanasiu and Poenaru v. Romania and Solon v. Romania as pilot cases

These cases raise issues under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time) and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property).

Atanasiu and Poenaru v. Romania (no. 30767/05) mainly concerns the applicants’ alleged inability to obtain access to a court in order to claim ownership of a nationalised flat, and the delay on the part of the administrative authorities in ruling on their restitution request.

Solon v. Romania (no. 33800/06) relates to the applicant’s inability to obtain compensation under Law no. 10/2001 in respect of a plot of land which was nationalised and used by the University of Craiova.

In the context of the launch of the pilot-judgment procedure, the Court has invited the parties in both cases to submit their observations in reply to the questions put by the Court, in order to provide it with a solid basis for an overall settlement of this type of cases.

The Court plans to hold a hearing in the cases on 8 June 2010. A press release announcing the hearing will be published at the end of May.

***

This press release is a document produced by the Registry. It does not bind the Court. Further information is available on its website (http://www.echr.coe.int).

 

Inapoi la Evenimente privind Justitia.