Protocol No. 15 amends the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

Protocol No. 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights brings significant amendments in Convention’s provisions.

The ratification shall trigger into force of the Protocol as such, in respect of all the Council of Europe member States on 1 August 2021.

This protocol brings some changes to the European Convention on Human Right’s provisions regarding the functioning of the European Court of Human Rights :

  • Adding a reference to the principle of subsidiarity and the doctrine of the margin of appreciation to the Preamble of the Convention;
  • Shortening from six to four months the time limit within which an application must be made to the Court;
  • Amending the ‘significant disadvantage’ admissibility criterion to remove the second safeguard preventing rejection of an application that has not been duly considered by a domestic tribunal;
  • Removing the right of the parties to a case to object to relinquishment of jurisdiction over it by a Chamber in favour of the Grand Chamber;
  • Replacing the upper age limit for judges by a requirement that candidates for the post of judge be less than 65 years of age at the date by which the list of candidates has been requested by the Parliamentary Assembly.

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