6.  The applicant was born in 1945 and lives in Haiger, Germany. 7.  On 12 November 1996 the applicant bought shares in a Romanian company, L. (“the company”). On 24 January 1997 and 21 September 1998 his shares, which at that date represented 87.5% of the total value of the company’s nominal capital, were recorded in the trade register (Registrul Comerţului). 8.  On 9 March 2000 the other shareholders decided to annul the applicant’s shares on the ground that the latter had not paid their value, despite repeated notifications to this end. On 24 March 2000 mention of this modification was made in the trade register. 9.  On 15 January 2001 the applicant lodged an action with the Bucharest County Court, seeking the annulment of the 9 March 2000 decision. The company argued, in defence, that, according to Law no. 31/1990 on companies (“Law no. 31”), the applicant lacked standing to bring the action, as he was no longer a shareholder. 10.  In an interlocutory judgment of 19 February 2001 the County Court dismissed the company’s objection of lack of standing. The action was allowed on the merits on 22 October 2001.
The County Court considered that the evidence brought by the applicant supported his claims of having locus standi. On the merits of the case, the court found that the 9 March 2000 decision had not observed the requirements of Law no. 31. It therefore cancelled it. 11.  This decision was upheld in a final decision of 12 March 2002 of the Bucharest Court of Appeal, upon an appeal lodged by the company. 12.  On 4 March 2002 the applicant lodged a new action with the Bucharest County Court, asking for the 24 March 2000 entry to be removed from the trade register. Based on the final decision of 12 March 2002, the County Court allowed the action in a judgment of 20 May 2002, which became final on 20 November 2002. 13.  On an unspecified date, the Procurator General lodged an extraordinary appeal with the Supreme Court of Justice, with a view to having the final decision of 12 March 2002 quashed (recurs în anulare), on the ground that the applicant lacked standing to bring his initial action. 14.  The Supreme Court considered that the applicant had lost his status as a shareholder when his shares had been annulled by the company, a situation confirmed by the entry of 24 March 2000 in the trade register. Therefore, in a final decision of 25 March 2003, it allowed the extraordinary appeal and, on the merits of the case, rejected as inadmissible the applicant’s initial action.