The Case Law of the ECtHR in 2023 : the Proceduralisation of the ECHR

Abstract

The present contribution analyses the developments in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights in 2023. It examines (some of) the relevant ‘key cases’ decided by the Court in 2023 through the lens of what seems to be the main fil rouge connecting them. It appears that most of those cases are related, in one way or another, to procedural issues. The contribution will therefore examine the main developments concerning jurisdiction for the purposes of Article 1 ECHR (Section 2), the exercise of the right of individual application (Section 3), the procedural conditions of admissibility (Section 4), the nature and scope of the Court’s review (Section 5), and the identification of new procedural obligations (Section 6). The analysis shows increased attention to ‘procedure’, and a general tendency towards the ‘proceduralisation’ of the ECHR, from several points of view. First, the Court is becoming more formalistic in the application of the rules governing the procedure before it. Second, it is consolidating its approach based on the ‘procedural review’ of domestic decision-making processes affecting the rights guaranteed under the Convention. Third, it is increasingly proceduralising the substantive rights enshrined in the provisions of the ECHR, by identifying positive procedural obligations aimed at securing their implementation.