Pro tе, how to fill out and submit an application to the ECHR, was told by a lawyer, PhD in law, associate professor of international and European law at the Leonid Yuzkov KhUUP, Andriy Ivanitsky Andriy Ivanitsky within the framework of the project of the National Academy of Advocacy of Ukraine ‘Legal Awareness’.
The lecturer thoroughly analyzed with the participants how to fill out and submit an application to the ECHR, namely:
1. Where to find the ECHR application form?
2. Who can submit an application to the ECHR?
3. Page-by-page review of the ECHR application.
Within the characteristics of filling out and submitting an application to the ECHR, the following is emphasized:
1. Where to find the ECHR application form?
The ECHR application form is located in the ‘Applications’ section, specifically ‘Applicants – other languages’ on the ECHR website.
The form will work correctly only with Adobe Reader 9 or later and is supported only by Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. Please make sure that Adobe Reader is installed on your computer (you can download the program on the website www.adobe.com).
1. Save a copy of the form:
- Right-click on the link or icon above
- Select ‘Save object as’ or ‘Save link as’
- Save the form on your computer in the selected location
2. Fill out the application form:
- Open the previously saved copy of the form with Adobe Reader
- Fill out the application form and save it
- After filling out the application, print it, sign it, and mail it to the Court
Main requirements for filling out the application form:
- The form will work correctly on a PC only with Adobe Reader 9 or later and is supported only by Windows and Mac OS X operating systems;
- It is desirable to provide printed text typed on a PC and subsequently printed and signed;
- Be sure to fill in all fields of the application form, otherwise your application will be considered incomplete and will not be accepted;
- Do not use symbols or abbreviations, clearly explain your opinion in words;
- Be concise;
- Provide all necessary documents that you consider necessary for their consideration by the ECHR.
2. Who can submit an application to the ECHR?
- According to Article 34 of the ECHR, the court may accept applications from any person, non-governmental organization, or group of individuals who consider themselves victims of a violation of rights by one of the High Contracting Parties as set out in the Convention or its Protocols. High Contracting Parties undertake not to hinder in any way the effective exercise of this right.
- Article 33 of the ECHR regarding inter-state cases regulates that any High Contracting Party may refer to the Court a question about any violation of the provisions of the Convention and its Protocols, which, in its opinion, has been committed by another High Contracting Party.
3. Page-by-page review of the ECHR application
- If there are several applicants, provide information about each of them on a separate sheet and number each applicant.
- The applicant must provide a postal address that is not the address of a lawyer or representative. This is necessary so that the Court can contact them if necessary. If the applicant is homeless or does not have a fixed place of residence, they can specify a post office box number or provide the address of friends, providing relevant explanations.
- For a legal entity, it is also necessary to indicate, depending on the case, the date of registration or establishment of the legal entity for the purpose of facilitating their identification.
- Check the box next to the country or countries against which the application is filed.
- This section concerns states that you believe are responsible for the circumstances you are complaining about. Please note that you can only submit an application to the Court against states listed in the list, as only they have joined the Convention system.
- Representative – not a lawyer. Some applicants may decide not to take or may be unable to take direct part in the proceedings for reasons such as health or incapacity. They may be represented by a person without legal education. For example, one of the parents may represent a child; a guardian, relative, or cohabitant may represent an applicant who finds it difficult to participate in the proceedings for practical reasons or due to health reasons (for example, when the applicant is hospitalized or imprisoned). In this case, the representative must indicate in what capacity he represents the applicant or what is his relationship with the applicant, as well as provide information about himself and his contact details.
The representative – a lawyer. Information about the lawyer representing the applicant in court, along with comprehensive contact information, must be provided. At the stage of submitting the application, the presence of a legal representative is not mandatory. If the case reaches a stage where a legal representative is required, the applicant will be informed.
Power of attorney. The applicant must sign a power of attorney, thereby giving their representative the right to represent their interests in court. A signature is not required, for example, if the applicant is a child, or if the applicant is incapacitated and unable to sign. If a representative who is not a lawyer appoints a legal representative on behalf of the applicant who cannot sign the power of attorney, the representative must sign it on behalf of the applicant.
Electronic communication between the representative and the Court. EComms is a service created by the Court for electronic communication with the applicant’s representative. The service is activated only under certain conditions and not earlier than notification of the Government about the application. The email address you provide will be used to create an account.
- Organization representative. An organization applicant must be represented by a person authorized to act on its behalf and to whom, when necessary, the Court will send correspondence. This person may be, for example, an employee of the company, its head, or director. This person must provide documentary evidence that they are authorized to submit an application on behalf of the organization. For example, depending on the practice of a particular country, this may be a copy of the company’s register extract or the chamber of commerce register, or a notarized board meeting protocol. If there is no documentary evidence, explanations should be provided. If the organization’s representative is also a lawyer acting on behalf of the organization, this should be clearly indicated by filling out both this section and section D.2.
The lawyer representative. Information about the lawyer representing the organization applicant in court, along with comprehensive contact information, must be provided. At the stage of submitting the application, the presence of a legal representative is not mandatory. If the case reaches a stage where a legal representative is required, the applicant will be informed.
Power of attorney. Here, the organization applicant’s representative must sign, thereby authorizing the lawyer to act on behalf of the organization. The lawyer or any person authorized by the organization applicant to submit an application to the Court must sign the power of attorney to confirm their consent to act on behalf of the applicant.
Electronic communication between the representative and the Court. EComms is a service created by the Court for electronic communication with the applicant’s representative. The service is activated only under certain conditions and not earlier than notification of the Government about the application. The email address you provide will be used to create an account.
Description of the facts:
Present information in chronological order. Describe events in the sequence in which they occurred. If your complaints relate to different issues (for example, different court proceedings), please describe the facts for each episode separately.
To support your case, you must provide documents, including copies of relevant decisions or documentary evidence of any actions you are complaining about, such as eviction notices or deportation decisions. You should also provide evidence such as medical records, witness statements, certificates, transcripts, documents confirming ownership rights, or detention records. If you cannot obtain copies of certain documents, you should explain why this is not possible.
Avoid long quotes: You can always refer to a copy of the document you are sending with the form. The circumstances of the case and your complaints should be set out in the relevant sections of the application form so that the Court can determine the nature and scope of your application without referring to any other materials. This information about your case is essential for the proper and timely preliminary consideration of your application; it must be provided on the pages of the application form, not in attachments to the form. This should be a clear and concise statement of the circumstances of the case, complaints, and compliance with the admissibility criteria that is easy to read.
Avoid trying to ‘squeeze’ every detail into the relevant section. Nor can you leave these pages blank with a reference to ‘attachment on separate sheets.’ Failure to comply with the requirement to include all necessary information on a limited number of pages of the application form will result in the Court not considering such an application.
Additional explanations, if necessary, can be provided in an attachment to the application form (in a separate document). The volume of such information should not exceed 20 pages (copies of decisions and other accompanying documents do not count towards this limit).
Allegations of violations of the Convention and/or its Protocols and Your Arguments:
To support each complaint, you must indicate the article of the Convention or Protocol that you allege has been violated and explain briefly how it was violated.
Explain as precisely as possible what exactly you are complaining about within the Convention. Indicate which provisions of the Convention you are referring to and explain how the facts you describe violate these provisions. Such explanations should be given for each individual complaint.
For example: part 1 of Article 6 of the Convention ‘Right to a Fair Trial’ civil proceedings in my claim for compensation were unreasonably lengthy, as it lasted for more than ten years: from January 10, 2002, to April 25, 2012.
Compliance with the admissibility criteria set out in Article 35 of the Convention:
In this section, you need to show that you have given the state the opportunity to rectify the situation before turning to an international legal institution, such as the Court. This means that you need to explain that you have used the available effective legal means in the relevant country.
For example: protection under part 1 of Article 6 of the Convention ‘Right to a Fair Trial’: All available national legal means of protection in Ukraine were used. The final decision at the national level was made by the Civil Cassation Court as part of the Supreme Court on January 5, 2025 (received on January 11, 2025) in case No. 111/222/24.
Don’t forget to add copies of all decisions made by courts or other authorized bodies, from the first to the last instance; you also need to provide copies of your claims or complaints, including appeals, filed in courts to show that you raised issues that form the basis of your complaints under the Convention, at each level of jurisdiction.
In the next section, you need to indicate whether there is an available legal means of protection that you did not use. If so, explain why you did not resort to it.
You need to indicate whether you have submitted an application with these complaints to other international bodies for investigation or settlement, such as UN bodies like the International Labour Organization or the Human Rights Committee, or to an international arbitration institution. If so, you should provide details, including the name of the body to which the complaints were submitted, dates, and detailed information about the proceedings and decisions made. Please add copies of relevant decisions and other documents.
If you have previously submitted an application to the Court: You also need to indicate whether you, as the applicant, have or have had other applications in the Court and, if so, indicate their numbers. This information is crucial as it allows the Court to find the application related to your correspondence, attach it to this case, and process all applications opened in your name properly.
List of accompanying documents:
You must add a numbered and chronologically arranged list of all decisions and resolutions mentioned in sections E, F, G, and H of the form, as well as other documents you wish to submit to the Court as evidence to support your complaints of violations of the Convention (transcripts, witness statements, medical certificates, etc.). Please indicate in the list of documents the page numbers where each of the documents can be found so that the Court can easily locate them. If space in the relevant section of the application form is insufficient, you can continue the list on a separate sheet. You must provide complete and legible copies of all documents you refer to in this list.
The Court does not return documents. Therefore, you should send only copies, not originals.
You should:
- organize all documents by dates and proceedings;
- number pages sequentially;
- do not staple, stitch, or glue documents together;
- make copies of documents only in 1 copy, a package of documents for the Government is not required.
Each of the applicants or authorized representative must sign a declaration. Other persons cannot do this on their behalf.
Designation of the person with whom correspondence is conducted.
The Court Secretariat corresponds only with one applicant or one representative. If there are several applicants and they have not appointed a representative, one of them must be designated as the person with whom the Court Secretariat will correspond. If the applicant is represented, the Court Secretariat will correspond only with one representative. That is, if, for example, the applicant has more than one representative, the legal one must specify which legal representative will correspond with the Court.
Applications to the Court are sent only by mail (not by phone). This means that the paper version of the application form with the original signatures of the applicant or applicants and/or their authorized representative(s) must be sent by mail. An application sent by fax is not considered complete because the Court requires an application with the original signature. You do not need to come to Strasbourg in person and present your case orally.
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