European Court of Human Rights: What is it? What does it do?

The European Court of Human Rights is an international judicial body that remains largely unknown, even among many legal professionals, including lawyers.

However, this lack of awareness has serious practical consequences for the protection of individual rights.

In fact, many people lose the opportunity to assert their rights at the international level simply because they are unaware that anyone, even a private citizen, can submit an application to the ECHR against a State that has violated one of the rights guaranteed by the Convention.

I am Attorney Gianluca Piemonte, and for years I have focused specifically on applications to the European Court of Human Rights, providing legal assistance both to private individuals and to fellow lawyers throughout Italy and abroad.

In this article, you will find a complete GUIDE to understanding what the ECHR is, how it works, which rights it protects, and in which cases it can intervene. We will examine its structure, its functions, how to submit an application, and the most significant judgments.

Finally, you will discover why the ECHR often represents the last path to justice when all domestic remedies have proven ineffective.

What is the European Court of Human Rights (also known as the ECHR)

The European Court of Human Rights is an international judicial body.

It is based in Strasbourg, France.

The Court was established in 1959 to ensure compliance with and implementation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) by the contracting States of the Council of Europe.

The European Court of Human Rights is commonly referred to as:

• European Court
• ECtHR
• ECHR (acronym of the English name)

The ECtHR represents the highest authority for the protection of individual rights in Europe.

Article 19 of the ECHR (1950) provides:
“To ensure the observance of the engagements undertaken by the High Contracting Parties in the present Convention and the Protocols thereto, a European Court of Human Rights shall be set up.”

The European Court must not be confused with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which is instead responsible for interpreting and applying European Union law. The ECHR has the sole purpose of safeguarding human rights against violations by the States that have ratified the Convention.

Currently, the Council of Europe (CoE) has 46 member States:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Russia was excluded following its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Court was conceived and established in the aftermath of the Second World War, with the aim of directly protecting the shared values of European democratic societies.

The Principle of Subsidiarity

The system established by the Convention is based on the principle of subsidiarity.

Within this framework between national systems and international law, a European citizen is entitled to seek protection of their rights before domestic courts and, only after exhausting all internal remedies, may file an application with the European Court of Human Rights.

The protection of the rights guaranteed by the Convention lies primarily with the member States, through their own national legal systems. The ECtHR intervenes only in a subsidiary capacity, namely when the domestic system has failed to provide effective protection.

This principle is expressly reaffirmed in the Preamble to Protocol No. 15 to the Convention, which strengthens the primary role of national judges in safeguarding fundamental rights.

Functions of the European Court of Human Rights

The primary function of the European Court of Human Rights is to ensure respect for the rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and its Additional Protocols.

This function is exercised through judicial review of the conduct of the member States of the Council of Europe, in relation to the international obligations they have undertaken by ratifying the Convention.

The European Court of Human Rights performs its role mainly through two core functions: a contentious function and a consultative function, namely:

• examining individual applications submitted by natural persons, non‑governmental organisations or groups of individuals who claim to be victims of a violation. These are the so‑called applications to the ECtHR, used to challenge final domestic judgments after all available domestic remedies have been exhausted
• adjudicating inter‑State applications, that is, proceedings brought by one member State against another
• ordering interim measures in situations of exceptional urgency, namely where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm (pursuant to Article 39 of the Rules of Court)
• interpreting the Convention and establishing binding jurisprudential principles for the States (consultative function)

The judgments of the Court are binding on the respondent State (Article 46 ECHR), which is required to adopt both individual and general measures in order to remedy the violation found and prevent similar violations from occurring in the future.

In this way, the Court also performs an indirect “normative” function, contributing to the harmonisation of human rights protection standards throughout Europe.

Let us now examine in detail the contentious function and the consultative function.

Contentious Function

The contentious function lies at the heart of the activity of the European Court of Human Rights. Through this function, the Court establishes the international responsibility of States for violations of the Convention and its Protocols.

The ECtHR examines applications alleging specific infringements of Convention rights, decides on their admissibility and merits, and, in the event of a violation, may award just satisfaction to the victim.

A key aspect is that a judgment from the European Court may also lead to the reopening of proceedings in Italy, even in the case of a final judgment (res judicata).

Although its decisions are issued in relation to a particular State, they have systemic effects, guiding the interpretation of the Convention across Europe.

Individual Application (commonly known as ECtHR application)

The individual application is the main channel of access to the Court.

It can be lodged by natural persons, non-governmental organisations or groups of individuals claiming to be victims of a violation attributable to a contracting State, provided that effective domestic remedies have been exhausted.

The Court requires strict formal requirements for the submission of applications.

The Court first assesses the admissibility of the application, including:

• whether the applicant qualifies as a victim,
• whether the application was lodged within four months from the final domestic decision,
• whether it is manifestly ill-founded or an abuse of the right of application, among other criteria.

For further reading: How to apply to the European Court of Human Rights – COMPLETE GUIDE

Interim Measure

An interim measure is an exceptional instrument whereby the ECtHR, upon a reasoned request by the applicant, orders a State to take or refrain from certain actions to avoid serious and irreparable harm, especially in relation to Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR.

It must be requested through a separate and urgent application, usually via fax or electronic form.

The applicant must present concrete and well-documented evidence of the immediate risk (e.g., medical certificates, domestic decisions, deportation orders, etc.).

In addition, it must be proven that no further effective remedies are available at the national level.

If granted, the measure is binding: failure to comply may result in a separate finding of violation and seriously damage the State’s position on the merits.

From a defence perspective, the best practice is to submit a concise but comprehensive dossier (e.g., timeline of domestic proceedings, latest decisions, proof of imminent risk) and to coordinate the interim measure request with the simultaneous or immediate filing of the main application.

See the PRACTICAL GUIDE on how to request an interim measure from the European Court

Inter-State Application

The inter-State application is a procedure whereby a contracting State may bring a case before the ECtHR against another contracting State for systemic or specific violations of rights protected by the Convention, regardless of the identification of individual victims.

It is a form of collective and objective protection, though it is used very rarely.

Consultative Function

The consultative function of the ECtHR allows it to issue reasoned opinions on the interpretation of the Convention and its Protocols.

These opinions do not establish liability and do not resolve individual disputes.

The Court uses consultative opinions to:

• clarify the scope of Convention rights in advance
• guide domestic case law
• help prevent future violations
• and strengthen coherence across the ECHR system

Composition of the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights has a stable institutional structure, designed to ensure both the representation of the member States and the independence of individual judges.

The Court is composed of judges elected for a single, non-renewable term, and is organised into Sections, Committees, Chambers, and the Grand Chamber—the judicial formations responsible for examining applications.

The number of judges corresponds to the number of States Parties to the Convention. This means each State has “its own” judge, although judges sit in an individual capacity, not as representatives of their national governments.

Judges must either meet the qualifications required for the highest judicial office in their country or be jurists of recognised competence. They are expected to act with independence, impartiality, and to be available full-time.

Judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from lists of 3 candidates submitted by each Contracting State, in accordance with a selection process designed to guarantee transparency and merit.

Each judge serves a non-renewable nine-year term, which ends upon reaching the age of 70, as established by Protocol No. 14 to avoid any dependency on the prospect of reappointment.

The plenary Court elects from among its members a President, who serves for a renewable three-year term.

To manage its caseload, the Court is divided into five Sections, which are permanent judicial formations composed to ensure geographical, gender, and legal system balance across Europe.

Within each Section, the following formations operate:

• the single judge, empowered to summarily declare inadmissible any application that is manifestly ill-founded or abusive;
• the three-judge Committees, which decide on cases that raise no new issues and fall within well-established case law;
• the seven-judge Chambers, which examine the merits of ordinary cases.

This multi-layered structure allows the Court to efficiently filter applications and focus judicial attention on cases that raise complex or novel human rights issues.

Grand Chamber

The Grand Chamber is composed of 17 judges and is convened to decide cases of particular importance that raise serious issues of interpretation of the Convention, conflicting case‑law, or matters of major significance for the European human rights system.

By right, the Grand Chamber includes the President of the Court, the Vice‑Presidents, and the Section Presidents, as well as the judge elected in respect of the respondent State. The remaining members are selected by rotation in order to ensure equitable representation.

The Grand Chamber also hears cases referred from a Chamber when a case involves a general issue of importance for the interpretation of the Convention, thereby acting as the interpretative apex of the system.

Admissibility of Applications to the European Court

For the European Court of Human Rights to examine the merits of an application, the application must meet a series of admissibility criteria set forth in the Convention and in the Court’s established case‑law.

In the absence of these conditions, the Court will declare the application inadmissible, meaning that the substance of the complaints will never be examined on the merits.

It is important to note that approximately 97 % of applications received by the Court are declared inadmissible precisely because they do not satisfy these criteria.

The main admissibility criteria can be summarised as follows:

• Exhaustion of domestic remedies and time limit for submission. The applicant must have used all available judicial remedies in their own country (typically up to the Supreme Court
• Application lodged within 4 months of the final domestic decision.
• Victim status. The applicant must demonstrate that they are a direct or indirect victim of the alleged violation of rights protected by the Convention (for example, one cannot submit an application for a violation suffered by others or by the community unless one is part of that community).
• State responsibility, meaning that the alleged violation must be attributable to the respondent State.
• Subject matter of the application. The complaints must relate to rights actually protected by the Convention or its Protocols, because if the case concerns issues outside the scope of the Convention, the Court may declare the application inadmissible.
• Significant disadvantage and non‑manifestly ill‑founded. The application must demonstrate a significant disadvantage and must not be “manifestly ill‑founded,” meaning devoid of any concrete legal or factual basis.
• No repetition of matters already examined. Applications that repeat facts or complaints that have already been the subject of a previous decision of the Court or of another international body cannot be accepted.

Legal assistance in proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights is therefore essential.

Although an application can initially be submitted by the applicant personally, if it passes the admissibility filter, it becomes mandatory to appoint a qualified lawyer for the subsequent phases of the procedure.

For this reason, it is highly advisable to engage a lawyer experienced in ECtHR applications from the outset, in order to avoid serious formal errors and to ensure that the case is correctly framed from the very beginning.

Not sure whether your case meets these criteria?

ECHR Case‑Law

The application form for the European Court contains a specific Section F, where the applicant must provide a “Statement of the violation(s) of the Convention and/or Protocols alleged, together with supporting arguments.”

In this section, citing relevant jurisprudence of the European Court itself plays a strategic and fundamental role for an experienced ECHR lawyer.

Citing relevant ECtHR precedents is one of the most effective tools to demonstrate that the alleged violation fits within an interpretative approach already recognised as incompatible with the Convention.

Just as in national proceedings a lawyer will leverage internal precedents — especially those of Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court — to support the admissibility and merits of their arguments, before the European Court it is essential to refer to judgments already delivered by the ECtHR, even if they concern other member States.

The authority of the Court does not depend on the respondent State, but on the consistency of the interpretative approach to Convention rights.

An experienced ECtHR lawyer knows how to identify the most pertinent precedents through specialist manuals and systematic analysis of the HUDOC database.

This approach not only strengthens the credibility of the application but also helps guide the Court toward a judgment consistent with its established jurisprudence.

Effectiveness of ECHR Judgments

Article 46 of the European Convention provides that:

“The High Contracting Parties undertake to abide by the final judgment of the Court in any case to which they are parties.”

This means that the Convention requires the respondent State to comply with the international decision, through measures that can be:

• Individual measures, such as reopening or renewing a trial, restitutio in integrum (restoration of the previous situation), and just satisfaction (financial compensation awarded by the Court against the State);
• General measures, such as legislative reforms or changes in administrative and judicial practice, whose implementation is monitored by the Committee of Ministers.

Although a judgment is formally binding only on the State that was a party to the case, both case‑law and doctrine have developed the notions of “res judicata” and, more importantly, “res interpretata.”

Every ECtHR judgment therefore contributes to authentically defining the content of the Convention and functions as an obligatory interpretative benchmark for all national judges, even in future and different disputes.

In States such as Italy, this translates into an obligation of “conforming interpretation.” In advanced cases, it may lead to the reopening of proceedings or revision of final judgments, as reflected in reforms concerning the so‑called European criminal review.

The obligation of conforming interpretation means that, when applying domestic law, a national judge must choose — among all legally sustainable interpretations — the one that makes the domestic norm compatible with the Convention and ECtHR case‑law, stopping only where such an interpretation would produce a result contrary to law or to the national Constitution.

Contact Details of the European Court

The main contact details of the European Court of Human Rights are as follows:

Postal address (for applications and correspondence):
The Registrar
European Court of Human Rights
Council of Europe
1 avenue de l’Europe
67075 Strasbourg Cedex
FRANCE

Main switchboard: +33 (0)3 88 41 20 18 (sometimes listed as 0033 3 88 41 20 18)
Registry fax (historically listed): +33 (0)3 88 41 27 30

Official website: https://www.echr.coe.int
From here, you can access pages on applications, forms, FAQs, and HUDOC, generally in English and French.

Assessment of the Requirements for an ECtHR Application

Contact our Law Firm Piemonte if:

• you have exhausted all domestic remedies (typically up to the Supreme Court) and thus the final judgment is no longer subject to appeal in Italy;
• you are still within the time limit to file an application with the European Court (i.e., within 4 months of the final judgment).

You can receive a quote for the assessment of the prerequisites for filing an ECtHR application.

Our quotes are clear and transparent (both for the evaluation and for the possible decision to proceed with the application).

We are an Italian law firm among the most experienced in Europe in ECHR applications. Proceedings before the European Court are conducted entirely in writing, and your presence at our office in Italy is not required, as it is sufficient for you to send us a scanned copy of the judgments related to your case via email.

We have already helped numerous individuals secure recognition of their rights in cases of wrongful proceedings, and we would be happy to assist you as well.

Write to supporto@studiopiemonte.com or complete the form on our CONTACT US page.