VEB NCVB AND OTHERS v. THE NETHERLANDS
Inadmissible
Alvina Gyulumyan;Ján Šikuta;Johannes Silvis;Josep Casadevall;Kristina Pardalos;Luis López Guerra
1. A list of applicants is set out in the appendix. The applicants were represented by Mr T. Barkhuysen, a lawyer practising in Amsterdam (hereafter also: the applicants’ representative). 2. Before the events complained of, the applicants variously held shares or subordinated bonds (the latter under diverse designations) issued by SNS REAAL N.V., a public limited company (naamloze vennootschap, “N.V.”) incorporated under Netherlands law, or one or more of its subsidiaries. The events complained of, which concern the expropriation of those shares and subordinated bonds, are set out in Stefania Adorisio and Others against the Netherlands and three other applications (dec), no. 47315/13, 14 January 2014. Appeals against the expropriation decision were dismissed by the Administrative Jurisdiction Division (Afdeling bestuursrechtspraak) of the Council of State (Raad van State) on 25 February 2013. Proceedings relating to compensation are currently pending before the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad). 3. At the time of the proceedings in issue, the Rules of Court, as pertinent, provided as follows (footnotes omitted): “1. Persons, non-governmental organisations or groups of individuals may initially present applications under Article 34 of the Convention themselves or through a representative. ...” “The parties have a duty to cooperate fully in the conduct of the proceedings and, in particular, to take such action within their power as the Court considers necessary for the proper administration of justice. This duty shall also apply to a Contracting Party not party to the proceedings where such cooperation is necessary.” “ 1. Any application made under Articles 33 or 34 of the Convention shall be submitted in writing and shall be signed by the applicant or by the applicants’ representative. 2. Where an application is made by a non-governmental organisation or by a group of individuals, it shall be signed by those persons competent to represent that organisation or group. The Chamber or Committee concerned shall determine any question as to whether the persons who have signed an application are competent to do so. 3. Where applicants are represented in accordance with Rule 36, a power of attorney or written authority to act shall be supplied by their representative or representatives. ” “1. Any application under Article 34 of the Convention shall be made on the application form provided by the Registry, unless the President of the Section concerned decides otherwise. It shall set out (a) the name, date of birth, nationality, sex, occupation and address of the applicant; ... and be accompanied by (h) copies of any relevant documents and in particular the decisions, whether judicial or not, relating to the object of the application. ... 4. Failure to comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Rule may result in the application not being examined by the Court. 5. The date of introduction of the application for the purposes of Article 35 § 1 of the Convention shall as a general rule be considered to be the date of the first communication from the applicant setting out, even summarily, the subject matter of the application, provided that a duly completed application form has been submitted within the time-limits laid down by the Court. The Court may for good cause nevertheless decide that a different date shall be considered to be the date of introduction. ... ” 4. Clarification of the above Rules, among others, was provided by a Practice direction on the institution of proceedings issued by the President of the Court under Rule 32 of the Rules of Court. At the time of the proceedings here in issue, it read as follows, in its relevant parts and in the redaction in force since 24 June 2009 (footnote omitted): “4. If an application has not been submitted on the official form or an introductory letter does not contain all the information referred to in Rule 47, the applicant may be required to submit a duly completed form. It must be despatched within eight weeks from the date of the Registry’s letter requesting the applicant to complete and return the form. Failure to comply with this time-limit will have implications for the date of introduction of the application and may therefore affect the applicant’s compliance with the six-month rule contained in Article 35 § 1 of the Convention. 5. Applicants may file an application by sending it by fax. However, they must despatch the signed original by post within eight weeks from the date of the Registry’s letter referred to in paragraph 4 above. ... 7. On receipt of the first communication setting out the subject-matter of the case, the Registry will open a file, whose number must be mentioned in all subsequent correspondence. Applicants will be informed thereof by letter. They may also be asked for further information or documents. ... 9. Failure to provide further information or documents at the Registry’s request (see paragraph 7) may result in the application not being examined by the Court or being declared inadmissible or struck out of the Court’s list of cases. ”