Faced with the global health crisis, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Monday 16 March aligned itself with the decisions of the French authorities and those of the Council of Europe.
Only essential activities such as the processing of priority cases will, in principle, continue to be carried out by teleworking. Urgent requests for interim measures under Article 39 (risk of irreparable damage) will be dealt with through procedures established for this purpose.
The six-month period (after exhaustion of national remedies) for lodging an application with the Court is, exceptionally, suspended until 16 April. The same applies to the time limits for pending proceedings.
These operating procedures will be kept under constant review in light of developments in the health situation and in accordance with the regulations adopted by the host State.
The Court is also suspending hearings scheduled for March and April.
The spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has also been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was taken because of “travel restrictions and quarantine measures put in place by a number of Council of Europe member states, in line with the decisions of the host country, France, as well as a risk assessment based on information from the World Health Organization”, the Council of Europe said in a statement.
PACE had previously decided to postpone all meetings of its committees until the end of March. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)