IN THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF ROMANIA, PART I, NO. 577 OF 19 JULY 2017 HAS BEEN PUBLISHED THE DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, IN THE TIMAR AND OTHERS VS. ROMANIA CAUSE.
In front of the national courts, all the plaintiffs have claimed within the legal procedures of attack formulated that they were not aware of the date of judgment, because they have not received the subpoenas from the Court. All 8 complaints have been rejected with the explanation that the subpoena by display method is provided by the law.
Thus, by doing so, this practice of the national courts has infringed Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights, under the aspect of lack of access to the Court of law of the plaintiffs.
As regards to the admissibility of the matter of the trial, the Romanian Government claimed that the right to access to a court of law is not absolute and may be subjected to limitations, the communication of procedure acts by display is an alternative to direct communication and a way of preventing the abusive exercise of rights by the parties involved in a trial.
By analyzing the cause in question, the Court found that the plaintiffs were summoned exclusively by display at the domicile or at their headquarters and they have not taken note of the date of the audiences and have not been able to appear in Court.
Although the complainants had missed the judgment, the national courts have not tried in any way to ensure that they have been informed of the dates of audiences so that they could participate in the processes regarding their civil rights, particularly by adjourning the judgment and repeating the procedure of communication.
For these reasons the Court unanimously admitted the plaintiffs’ request relating to the access in Court and has found that a violation of Article 6 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights has occurred.
Date: 19.07.2017
