Municipal Debt Recovery

The path from a domestic ruling to an ECHR verdict is defined by three thresholds: exhaustion, admissibility, and the six-month rule. Miss any of them and the case does not reach the merits. Meet all three and you have jurisdiction to argue Article 6 § 1 non-enforcement and Protocol 1 property.

Exhaustion means the domestic system has run its course — appeal routes closed, enforcement mechanisms attempted, no further internal recourse available. Admissibility is where the Court screens what it will hear: the applicant must have suffered a significant disadvantage, the complaint must be substantiated, and the rights invoked must actually be engaged.

The six-month rule (now four months under Protocol 15) is the hardest deadline in Convention practice. It runs from the final domestic decision, and the Court does not extend it. That single rule is why we tell creditors: once the domestic system says no, the Strasbourg clock is already ticking.