Auszug aus EGMR, 30.09.2021 - 48848/20

Three years after the judgment of 6 December 2016, the first-instance court disjoined the plaintiff's action into a separate set of proceedings no. 5 C 1/2020 (on 7 January 2020), requested the applicant's consent to the withdrawal of the action by the plaintiff (on 22 January 2020) and discontinued the proceedings (on 25 February 2020).

5 C 294/2015 and 5 C 1/2020.

While there were certain delays also in the part concerning the costs of proceedings no. 5 C 1/2020, they were not substantial.

They also submitted that the second set of the proceedings (no. 5 C 1/2020) had concerned the payment of approximately EUR 2, 600. They submitted that the proceedings had started on 7 January 2020 when the plaintiff's action had been disjoined from the first set of proceedings and had been discontinued following the plaintiff's withdrawal of its action.

The Government argued that the two sets of proceedings were separate from each other, the first (no. 5 C 294/2015) having ended with final effect on 31 October 2017 at the latest and the second (no. 5 C 1/2020) having started on 7 January 2020.

While the proceedings were formally conducted under two different case file numbers, the Court notes that by the judgment of 6 December 2016 issued in proceedings no. 5 C 294/2015, the first-instance court quashed the arbitration award and decided to continue examining the plaintiff's original action (disjoined to proceedings no. 5 C 1/2020 as of 7 January 2020).

Auszug aus EGMR, 30.09.2021 - 48848/20

The Court reiterates that Article 6 § 1 of the Convention requires that all stages of legal proceedings concerning the determination of civil rights and obligations, not excluding stages subsequent to a judgment on the merits, be resolved within a reasonable time, and that this also includes in principle the stage of proceedings concerning costs (see Robins v. the United Kingdom, no. 22410/93, §§ 28-29, ECHR 1997-V, and Macková v. Slovakia, no. 51543/99/98, § 55, 29 March 2005).

Auszug aus EGMR, 30.09.2021 - 48848/20

The Court reiterates that Article 6 § 1 of the Convention requires that all stages of legal proceedings concerning the determination of civil rights and obligations, not excluding stages subsequent to a judgment on the merits, be resolved within a reasonable time, and that this also includes in principle the stage of proceedings concerning costs (see Robins v. the United Kingdom, no. 22410/93, §§ 28-29, ECHR 1997-V, and Macková v. Slovakia, no. 51543/99/98, § 55, 29 March 2005).

Auszug aus EGMR, 30.09.2021 - 48848/20

The Court reiterates that the reasonableness of the length of proceedings must be assessed in the light of the circumstances of the case and with reference to the following criteria: the complexity of the case, the conduct of the applicant and the relevant authorities and what was at stake for the applicant in the dispute (see Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, § 43, ECHR 2000-VII).