FOGLI DI LAVORO per il Diritto internazionale 3 ... - Giurisprudenza

FOGLI DI LAVORO per il Diritto internazionale 3/2008
59. The Court reiterates that the reasonableness of the length
of proceedings must be assessed in the light of the
circumstances of the case and with reference to the following
criteria: the complexity of the case, the conduct of the applicant
associations and the relevant authorities and what was at stake
for the applicant associations in the dispute (see, among many
other authorities, Frydlender v. France [GC], no. 30979/96, §
43, ECHR 2000-VII).
60. The Court observes that the parties agree that the subject
matter of the present proceedings concerned constitutional
issues of a certain legal complexity. The Court endorses this
assessment.
61. As to the applicant associations' conduct, the Court takes
note that the applicant associations have not contested having
caused a certain delay in the proceedings before the
Administrative Court of Appeal by requesting that court on 22
January 1988 not to schedule a hearing within the next six
months and by requesting for hearings to be re-scheduled twice.
As regards the proceedings before the Federal Constitutional
Court, the Court observes that the Government have not
contested the applicant associations' submissions that they had
refrained from replying immediately to the Government's
submissions as that court had informed them that the case would
not be dealt with for years. There is, furthermore, no indication
that the extent of the applicant associations' submissions to the
Federal Constitutional Court had been excessive, having regard
to the complexity of the subject matter. It follows that the
applicant associations' conduct cannot be considered to have
contributed to the length of the proceedings before the Federal
Constitutional Court.
62. As regards the domestic courts' conduct, the Court
observes that the proceedings were processed within one year
and four months by the Cologne Administrative Court, within
four years and one month by the Administrative Court of Appeal
and in less than a year by the Federal Administrative Court.
Having regard to the applicant associations' contribution to the
length of the proceedings before the Court of Appeal (see
paragraph 61, above) and to the complexity of the subject
matter, the Court still considers this length to be acceptable.
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