MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES

Notes on the Agenda

CM/Notes/1514/H46-29

5 December 2024

1514th meeting, 3-5 December 2024 (DH) Human rights   H46-29 Beller group v. Poland (Application No. 51837/99) Supervision of the execution of the European Court’s judgments Reference documents DH-DD(2024)1185, CM/Del/Dec(2020)1377bis/H46-45

 

Application	Case	Judgment of	Final on	Indicator for the classification
51837/99	BELLER	01/02/2005	06/06/2005	Complex problem
43702/02	GRABIŃSKI	17/10/2006	17/01/2007
9261/02	ISKRZYCCY	14/09/2010	14/12/2010
13771/02	KARASIŃSKA	06/10/2009	06/01/2010
24706/05	PABJAN	02/06/2009	02/09/2009
23856/05	PALIGA AND ADAMKOWICZ	14/04/2009	14/07/2009
15910/08	PIOTROWSKI MIKOŁAJ	12/10/2010	12/10/2010
1415/11	POTOCKA	25/09/2012	25/09/2012
20982/07	PRĄDZYŃSKA-POZDNIAKOW	07/07/2009	07/10/2009
858/08	RADOSZEWSKA-ZAKOŚCIELNA	20/10/2009	20/01/2010
53339/09	SIERMIŃSKI	02/12/2014	02/03/2015
33744/06	TYMIENIECKI	07/07/2009	07/10/2009
49725/11+	WCISŁO AND CABAJ	08/11/2018	08/02/2019

Case description

This group of cases concerns the excessive length of proceedings before administrative courts and bodies (violations of Article 6 § 1). The case of Wcisło and Cabaj also concerns the ineffectiveness of the domestic remedies against the excessive length of administrative proceedings (violation of Article 13). 

Status of execution

Last examination by the Committee of Ministers

At its 1377^thbis meeting (September 2020) (DH), the Committee expressed concern that despite the wide scope of adopted legislative reforms to the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts and the Code of Administrative Procedure and the application of the new rules in practice, the number of complaints against inactivity and excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies submitted to or granted by the regional administrative courts was increasing. It noted in addition that the situation before the regional administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court (the SAC) was worrying, as their backlog of cases increased in 2019. The Committee therefore requested a comprehensive assessment of the practical impact of the measures already in place, as well as an explanation for the above trends, while also encouraging the authorities to continue the implementation of measures to reduce the length of proceedings before administrative bodies and courts.

The Committee also noted with concern that the existing remedies did not allow courts to consider the length of the proceedings before administrative bodies for the assessment of the overall length of the administrative proceedings and invited the authorities to reflect on how to align the domestic practice with the requirements of the European Court’s case-law.

Individual measures:

The proceedings in all the cases in the group are still pending.

General measures:

An updated action plan was submitted by the authorities on 15 October 2024 (DH-DD(2024)1185).

a) Measures aimed at reducing the length of proceedings before administrative bodies and courts

Important measures to simplify and accelerate proceedings before administrative bodies and courts were introduced in 2015 (amendments to the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts) and in 2017 (amendments to the Code of Administrative Procedure).[1]

-       Further envisaged legislative amendments

The authorities are considering further legislative measures to simplify and accelerate the course of administrative proceedings. For example, they envisage to increase the list of proceedings where the engagement of two instances of administrative bodies is not necessary and foresee further reforms to eliminate unnecessary regulatory requirements (draft Act amending certain acts in order to deregulate economic and administrative law). Amendments are also foreseen to enlarge the scope of cases where it is not required to file a request for re-examination of the case by the competent administrative body before appealing to a regional administrative court. Other envisaged amendments concern the introduction of a deadline after which administrative proceedings suspended ex officio before an administrative body could be discontinued under certain conditions; or of rules providing for the obligation for the first-instance administrative body to comply with the decision given on appeal. These draft amendments are pending at the level of the government.

-       Practical measures

The budget and the number of non-judicial staff of the administrative courts continue to increase (from 565 million PLN in 2020 to 876 million PLN in 2024 – a bit over 200 million Euros - and from 1,685 persons in 2020 to 1,733 persons in 2024). The information provided by the authorities shows that while the number of different categories of administrative judges has varied over the years, the total number of administrative judges (including the SAC judges, regional administrative court judges and trainee judges) has increased between 2020 and 2023 (from 561 in 2020 to 625 in 2023).

Trainings, seminars and conferences for judges and the staff of regional administrative courts and the SAC, including on the rapid examination of cases, are systematically organised by the SAC. The issue of the length of proceedings is regularly discussed during meetings of the judges of the SAC and meetings of the President of the SAC with presidents of regional administrative courts.

b) Impact of the measures adopted so far

The authorities provided information about the impact of the 2017 amendment to the Code of Administrative Procedure, which was prepared in 2022 based on a survey among various administrative bodies. In their opinion, this survey demonstrates that the 2017 amendments have contributed to streamlining the proceedings before administrative bodies. Among the impactful amendments, they identified, inter alia: (i) the obligation of the administrative body to indicate the conditions which remain to be fulfilled for the issuing of a decision in accordance with a party’s request, allowing the request to be supplemented and the case resolved; (ii) the limitation of the circumstances in which second instance administrative bodies could quash decisions of lower level administrative bodies, remitting the cases for reconsideration; (iii) the possibility of waiving the right to appeal; (iv) the possibility of submitting an appeal to a regional administrative court without prior request for reconsideration of the case by a higher administrative body; (v) the possibility to file a request for acceleration to a higher instance administrative body; or (vi) the silent settlement of the case and the simplified procedure.

The number of cases pending before regional administrative courts was increasing between 2020 and 2022 (from 26,785 cases at the end of 2020 to 34,155 at the end of 2022) and has started to decrease since then (to 27,458 at the end of 2023 and 24,593 at the end of the first half of 2024). Similar trends are visible regarding the number of cassation appeals filed with the SAC, where the number of cases has also decreased (from 37,993 cases at the end of 2022, to 36,988 at the end 2023 and 35,672 at the end of the first half of 2024). Despite a small decrease of the number of cases before the SAC since 2023 (by approximately 3%), almost half of these proceedings last more than 24 months.

c) Remedies against excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies and courts

- Description of the remedies

The remedies against excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies include a complaint to a higher-level administrative body against inactivity or excessive length of proceedings, pursuant to the Code of Administrative Procedure, and a similar complaint to regional administrative courts, pursuant to the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts. In the framework of the latter complaint, a regional administrative court may impose on the administrative body an obligation to act within a given time frame, may declare whether the inactivity or excessive length of administrative proceedings amounted to a flagrant violation of law and, upon request from a party or ex officio, may impose a fine on the responsible body. Moreover, since 2015 regional administrative courts have the power to order the payment of compensation by the responsible administrative body to a party in the proceedings, of up to five times the average monthly public-sector salary.[2] This mechanism is also available if an administrative body fails to implement a court judgment which gave to it indications following of complaint about inactivity.

The general remedy against excessive length of judicial proceedings, introduced by the 2004 Act on complaint about breach of the right to have a case examined in judicial proceedings without undue delay (the 2004 Act), applies to proceedings before regional administrative courts and the SAC. It allows to seek acceleration of the proceedings and/or compensation for damages suffered.

- Functioning of the remedies

No aggregated statistical data is available concerning complaints to a higher-level administrative body about inactivity or excessive length of proceedings, pursuant to the Code of Administrative Procedure, which according to the authorities is due to the dispersed character of these proceedings.

The overall number of complaints to regional administrative courts against inactivity or excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies increased in 2020-2021 (10,062 in 2020;17,427 in 2021) and decreased in 2022-2023 (12,167 in 2022; 7,997 in 2023). Likewise, the number of complaints granted by the regional administrative courts increased in 2020-2021 and decreased in 2022-2023 (6,230 complaints granted in 2022; 3,350 complaints granted in 2023).[3] The same trend is visible as regards complaints concerning non-execution of a judgment granting a complaint against inactivity or excessive length.

From the data provided by the authorities it can be concluded that, in the period 2020-first half of 2024 most of the requests for compensation were rejected.[4] It can also be calculated[5] that the average amount of compensation awarded varied from approximately 330 EUR in 2020 to approximately 390 EUR in the first half of 2024.

Concerning the general remedy against excessive length of judicial proceedings before administrative courts, the overall number of complaints started to decrease since 2022. The overall number of complaints for 2022 and 2023 was 50 and 39 respectively concerning the SAC and 154 and 87 respectively concerning the regional administrative courts. The number of the complaints granted by the SAC remains very low: no complaint was granted as regards proceedings before the SAC and only eight were granted in the period 2020-2023 as regards proceedings before regional administrative courts. Based on the information provided, it can be calculated that the average award of compensation increased (from approximately 260 EUR in 2020 to approximately 700 EUR in the first half of 2024).

The authorities maintained that administrative courts do not have legal means allowing them to assess the overall combined length of the proceedings before both administrative bodies and courts. They noted that complaints against the length of proceedings before administrative bodies are examined by the administrative courts (under Article 149 of the Law on Proceedings before Administrative Courts), while complaints for excessive length of proceedings before administrative courts are examined by the SAC under the 2004 Act. Therefore, these are separate proceedings, which have different legal basis, which precludes an assessment of the overall combined length.

Analysis by the Secretariat

Individual measures:

Information is awaited on the state of the proceedings and the measures taken with a view to their acceleration to secure restitutio in integrum, where appropriate.

General measures:

Excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies and courts

The most recent information provided by the authorities reveals several positive trends which could be welcomed.

The assessment of the implementation of 2017 amendments presented by the authorities demonstrates that they apply these provisions in practice and monitor their impact on the acceleration of administrative proceedings. Moreover, they continue their work to identify solutions, which could simplify and accelerate the course of proceedings before administrative bodies and courts. In addition, the budget and level of staffing of regional administrative courts and the SAC have increased and the implementation of awareness-raising measures continues.

The statistical data provided by the authorities also indicate that there have been recently positive trends in the proceedings before administrative bodies and courts. Indeed, since 2022 there is a decrease in the number of complaints against inactivity and excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies, as well as in the number of cases pending before regional administrative courts and the SAC. These encouraging statistics might be seen as the first positive signs of the reforms implemented since 2015. As the period when improvement was observed is short, the authorities should continue their efforts to consolidate these trends and continue to monitor closely the impact of the reforms. They can be invited to provide to the Committee consolidated data allowing it to make a conclusive assessment.

Apart from measures to simplify and accelerate proceedings before administrative bodies, the authorities could also consider whether further analysis is needed to identify types of proceedings or geographical areas that are more affected by the problems of inactivity or excessive length. Such analysis could possibly enable them to elaborate and implement additional targeted measures.  

Remedies against excessive length of administrative proceedings

The judicial remedy against the inactivity and excessive length of proceedings before administrative bodies is used relatively frequently, including to request compensation or the imposition of a fine. It appears that on average around 40 % of the complaints for inactivity have been granted in the period 2020-first half of 2024. However, the statistics provided by the authorities could raise certain questions regarding the compensatory aspect of this remedy. They relate to the: (i) low proportion of compensation requests granted by administrative courts; and (ii) low amounts of the awards (an average of around 390 EUR in the first half of 2024, while the maximum amount provided for by law exceeds 4,600 EUR). The authorities should explain the reasons for these outcomes and provide examples of maximum and minimum amounts of compensation granted by the regional administrative courts, to enable an assessment of the compensatory aspect of the remedy.

By contrast, the complaints against excessive length of proceedings before administrative courts are still rarely used and they are very rarely granted. Between 2020 and 2023 no such complaint was granted regarding proceedings before the SAC and only eight complaints concerning regional administrative courts were allowed. In addition, the average level of compensation granted remains low (in 2020 it was even below the statutory minimum for such compensation). This data should be further explained by the authorities.

Finally, the fact that there are currently no means allowing to assess the combined overall length of the proceedings before both administrative bodies and courts is still a matter of concern, bearing in mind that according to the Court’s established case-law, the reasonableness of the length of proceedings must be assessed in the light of the circumstances of the case taken as a whole and that the Court’s approach consists in examining all  stages of the proceedings.[6] It is therefore proposed to the Committee to urge the authorities to reflect on the necessity for adoption of additional measures in this respect.

Financing assured: YES