Rules of Procedure of the Court

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Approved by the Court at its Forty-ninth Regular Session

held from November 16 to 25, 2000

PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

Article 1. Purpose

1.    These Rules regulate the organization and establish the procedure of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

2.    The Court may adopt such other Rules as may be necessary to carry out its functions.

3.    In the absence of a provision in these Rules or in case of doubt as to their interpretation, the Court shall decide.

Article 2. Definitions

For the purposes of these Rules:

1.    the term “Agent” refers to the person designated by a State to represent it before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;

2.    the term “Deputy Agent” refers to the person designated by a State to assist the Agent in the discharge of his duties and to replace him during his temporary absences;

3.    the expression “General Assembly” refers to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States;

4.    the term “Commission” refers to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights;

5.    the expression “Permanent Commission” refers to the Permanent Commission of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;

6.    The expression “Permanent Council” refers to the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States;

7.    the term “Convention” refers to the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José, Costa Rica);

8.    the term “Court” refers to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;

9.    the term “Delegates” refers to the persons designated by the Commission to represent it before the Court;

10. the expression “original claimant” refers to the person, group of persons, or nongovernmental entity that instituted the original petition before the Commission, pursuant to Article 44 of the Convention;

11. the term “day” shall be understood to be a natural day;

12. the expression “States Parties” refers to the States that have ratified or adhered to the Convention;

13. the expression “Member States” refers to the States that are members of the Organization of American States;

14. the term “Statute” refers to the Statute of the Court adopted by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States on 31 October 1979 (AG/RES. 448 [IX-0/79]), as amended;

15. the expression “next of kin” refers to the immediate family, that is, the direct ascendants and descendants, siblings, spouses or permanent companions, or those determined by the Court, if applicable;

16. the expression “report of the Commission” refers to the report provided for in Article 50 of the Convention;

17. the term “Judge” refers to the judges who compose the Court for each case;

18. the expression “Titular Judge” refers to any judge elected pursuant to Articles 53 and 54 of the Convention;

19. the expression “Interim Judge” refers to any judge appointed pursuant to Articles 6(3) and 19(4) of the Statute;

20. the expression “Judge ad hoc” refers to any judge appointed pursuant to Article 55 of the Convention;

21. the term “month” shall be understood to be a calendar month;

22. the acronym “OAS” refers to the Organization of American States;

23. the expression “parties to the case” refers to the victim or the alleged victim, the State and, only procedurally, the Commission;

24. the term “President” refers to the President of the Court;

25. the term “Secretariat” refers to the Secretariat of the Court;

26. the term “Secretary” refers to the Secretary of the Court;

27. the expression “Deputy Secretary” refers to the Deputy Secretary of the Court;

28. the expression “Secretary General” refers to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States;

29. the expression “Vice-President” refers to the Vice-President of the Court;

30. the expression “alleged victim” refers to the person whose rights under the Convention are alleged to have been violated;

31. the term “victim” refers to the person whose rights have been violated, according to a judgment pronounced by the Court.

TITLE I

ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONING OF THE COURT

Chapter I

The Presidency and Vice-Presidency

Article 3. Election of the President and the Vice-President

1.    The President and the Vice-President shall be elected by the Court for a period of two years and may be reelected. Their term shall begin on the first day of the first session of the corresponding year. The election shall take place at the last regular session held by the Court during the preceding year.

2.    The elections referred to in this Article shall be by secret ballot of the Titular Judges present. The judge who wins four or more votes shall be deemed to have been elected. If no candidate receives the required number of votes, a ballot shall take place between the two judges who have received the most votes. In the event of a tie, the judge having precedence in accordance with Article 13 of the Statute shall be deemed to have been elected.

Article 4. Functions of the President

      1.    The functions of the President are to:

a.    represent the Court;

b.    preside over the meetings of the Court and to submit for its
consideration the topics appearing on the agenda;

c.    direct and promote the work of the Court;

d.   rule on points of order that may arise during the meetings of the Court. If any judge so requests, the point of order shall be decided by a majority vote;

e.   present a biannual report to the Court on the activities he has carried out as President during that period;

f.    exercise such other functions as are conferred upon him by the Statute or these Rules, or entrusted to him by the Court.

2.    In specific cases, the President may delegate the representation referred to in paragraph 1(a) of this Article to the Vice-President, to any of the judges or, if necessary, to the Secretary or to the Deputy Secretary.

3.    If the President is a national of one of the parties to a case before the Court, or in special situations in which he considers it appropriate, he shall relinquish the Presidency for that particular case. The same rule shall apply to the Vice-President or to any judge called upon to exercise the functions of the President.

Article 5. Functions of the Vice-President

1.    The Vice-President shall replace the President in the latter's temporary absence, and shall assume the Presidency when the absence is permanent. In the latter case, the Court shall elect a Vice-President to serve out the rest of the term. The same procedure shall be followed if the absence of the Vice-President is permanent.

2.    In the absence of the President and the Vice-President, their functions shall be assumed by the other judges in the order of precedence established in Article 13 of the Statute.

Article 6. Commissions

1.    The Permanent Commission shall be composed by the President, the Vice-President and any other judges the President deems it appropriate to appoint, according to the needs of the Court. The Permanent Commission shall assist the President in the exercise of his functions.

2.    The Court may appoint other commissions for specific matters. In urgent cases, they may be appointed by the President if the Court is not in session.

3.    The commissions shall be governed by the provisions of these Rules, as applicable.

Chapter II

The Secretariat

Article 7. Election of the Secretary

1.    The Court shall elect its Secretary, who must possess the legal qualifications required for the position, a good command of the working languages of the Court, and the experience necessary for discharging his functions.

2.    The Secretary shall be elected for a term of five years and may be re-elected. He may be removed at any time if the Court so decides. A majority of no fewer than four judges, voting by secret ballot in the presence of a quorum, is required for the appointing or removal of the Secretary.

Article 8. Deputy Secretary

1.    The Deputy Secretary shall be appointed on the proposal of the Secretary, in the manner prescribed in the Statute. He shall assist the Secretary in the performance of his functions and replace him during his temporary absences.

2.    If the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary are both unable to perform their functions, the President may appoint an Interim Secretary.

Article 9. Oath

1.    The Secretary and the Deputy Secretary shall take an oath or make a solemn declaration before the President undertaking to discharge their duties faithfully, and to respect the confidential nature of the facts that come to their attention while exercising their functions.

2.    The staff of the Secretariat, including any persons called upon to perform interim or temporary duties, shall, upon assuming their functions, take an oath or make a solemn declaration before the President undertaking to discharge their duties faithfully and to respect the confidential nature of the facts that come to their attention while exercising their functions. If the President is not present at the seat of the Court, the Secretary shall administer the oath.

3.    All oaths shall be recorded in a document to be signed by the person being sworn in and by the person administering the oath.

Article 10. Functions of the Secretary

       The functions of the Secretary shall be to:

a.   communicate the judgments, advisory opinions, orders and other rulings of the Court;

b.     keep the minutes of the meetings of the Court;

c.     attend the meetings of the Court held at its seat or elsewhere;

d.    deal with the correspondence of the Court;

e.   direct the administration of the Court, pursuant to the instructions of the President;

f.    prepare the drafts of the working schedules, rules and regulations, and budgets of the Court;

g.     plan, direct and coordinate the work of the staff of the Court;

h.     carry out the tasks assigned to him by the Court or by the President;

i.       perform any other duties provided for in the Statute or in these Rules.

Chapter III

Functioning of the Court

Article 11. Regular Sessions

       During the year, the Court shall hold the sessions needed for the exercise of its functions on the dates decided upon by the Court at the previous session. In exceptional circumstances, the President may change the dates of these sessions after prior consultation with the Court.

Article 12. Special Sessions

       Special sessions may be convoked by the President on his own initiative or at the request of a majority of the judges.

Article 13. Quorum

       The quorum for the deliberations of the Court shall consist of five judges.

Article 14. Hearings, Deliberations and Decisions

1.       Hearings shall be public and shall be held at the seat of the Court. When exceptional circumstances so warrant, the Court may decide to hold a hearing in private or at a different location. The Court shall decide who may attend such hearings. Even in these cases, however, minutes shall be kept in the manner prescribed in Article 42 of these Rules.

2.    The Court shall deliberate in private, and its deliberations shall remain secret. Only the judges shall take part in the deliberations, although the Secretary and the Deputy Secretary or their substitutes may attend, as well as such other Secretariat staff as may be required. No other persons may be admitted, except by special decision of the Court and after taking an oath or making a solemn declaration.

3.    Any question that calls for a vote shall be formulated in precise terms in one of the working languages. At the request of any of the judges, the Secretariat shall translate the text thereof into the other working languages and distribute it prior to the vote.

4.    The minutes of the deliberations of the Court shall be limited to a statement of the subject of the discussion and the decisions taken. Separate opinions, dissenting and concurring, and declarations made for the record shall also be noted.

Article 15. Decisions and Voting

1.    The President shall present, point by point, the matters to be voted upon. Each judge shall vote either in the affirmative or the negative; there shall be no abstentions.

2.    The votes shall be cast in inverse order to the order of precedence established in Article 13 of the Statute.

3.    The decisions of the Court shall be adopted by a majority of the judges present at the time of the voting.

4.    In the event of a tie, the President shall have a casting vote.

Article 16. Continuation in Office by the Judges

1.       Judges whose terms have expired shall continue to exercise their functions in cases that they have begun to hear and that are still pending. However, in the event of death, resignation or disqualification, the judge in question shall be replaced by the judge who was elected to take his place, if applicable, or by the judge who has precedence among the new judges elected upon expiration of the term of the judge to be replaced.

2.         All matters relating to reparations and indemnities, as well as supervision of the implementation of the judgments of the Court, shall be heard by the judges comprising it at that stage of the proceedings, unless a public hearing has already been held. In that event, they shall be heard by the judges who had attended that hearing.

3.         All matters relating to provisional measures shall be heard by the Court composed of Titular Judges.

Article 17. Interim Judges

       Interim Judges shall have the same rights and functions as Titular Judges, except for such limitations that have been expressly established.

Article 18. Judges Ad Hoc

1.    In a case arising under Article 55(2) and 55(3) of the Convention and Article 10(2) and 10(3) of the Statute, the President, acting through the Secretariat, shall inform the States referred to in those provisions of their right to appoint a Judge ad hoc within 30 days of notification of the application.

2.    When it appears that two or more States have a common interest, the President shall inform them that they may jointly appoint one Judge ad hoc, pursuant to Article 10 of the Statute. If those States have not communicated their agreement to the Court within 30 days of the last notification of the application, each State may propose its candidate within 15 days. Thereafter, and if more than one candidate has been nominated, the President shall choose a common Judge ad hoc by lot, and shall communicate the result to the interested parties.

3.       Should the interested States fail to exercise their right within the time limits established in the preceding paragraphs, they shall be deemed to have waived that right.

4.    The Secretary shall communicate the appointment of Judges ad hoc to the other parties to the case.

5.    The Judge ad hoc shall take an oath at the first meeting devoted to the consideration of the case for which he has been appointed.

6.       Judges ad hoc shall receive honoraria on the same terms as Titular Judges.

Article 19. Impediments, excuses and disqualification

1.       Impediments, excuses and disqualification of Judges shall be governed by the provisions of Article 19 of the Statute.

2.       Motions for impediments and excuses must be filed prior to the first hearing of the case. However, if the grounds therefore were not known at the time, such motions may be submitted to the Court at the first possible opportunity, so that it can rule on the matter immediately.

3.    When, for any reason whatsoever, a judge is not present at one of the hearings or at other stages of the proceedings, the Court may decide to disqualify him from continuing to hear the case, taking all the circumstances it deems relevant into account.

TITLE II

PROCEDURE

Chapter I

General Rules

Article 20. Official Languages

1.    The official languages of the Court shall be those of the OAS, which are Spanish, English, Portuguese and French.

2.    The working languages shall be those agreed upon by the Court each year. However, in a specific case, the language of one of the parties may be adopted as a working language, provided it is one of the official languages.

3.    The working languages for each case shall be determined at the beginning of the proceedings, unless they are the same as those already being employed by the Court.

4.    The Court may authorize any person appearing before it to use his own language if he does not have sufficient knowledge of the working languages. In such circumstances, however, the Court shall make the necessary arrangements to ensure that an interpreter is present to translate that testimony into the working languages. The interpreter must take an oath or make a solemn declaration, undertaking to discharge his duties faithfully and to respect the confidential nature of the facts that come to his attention in the exercise of his functions.

5.    The Court shall, in all cases, determine which text is authentic.

Article 21. Representation of the States

1.    The States Parties to a case shall be represented by an Agent, who may, in turn, be assisted by any persons of his choice.

2.    If a State replaces its Agent, it shall so notify the Court, and the replacement shall only take effect once the notification has been received at the seat of the Court.

3.    A Deputy Agent may be designated who will assist the Agent in the exercise of his functions and replace him during his temporary absences.

4.    When appointing its Agent, the State in question shall indicate the address at which all relevant communications shall be deemed to have been officially received.

Article 22. Representation of the Commission

       The Commission shall be represented by the Delegates it has designated for the purpose. The Delegates may be assisted by any persons of their choice.

Article 23. Participation of the Alleged Victims

1.    When the application has been admitted, the alleged victims, their next of kin or their duly accredited representatives may submit their requests, arguments and evidence, autonomously, throughout the proceeding.

2.    When, there are several alleged victims, next of kin or duly accredited representatives, they shall designate a common intervenor who shall be the only person authorized to present requests, arguments and evidence during the proceedings, including the public hearings.

3.    In case of disagreement, the Court shall make the appropriate ruling.

Article 24. Cooperation of the States

1.    The States Parties to a case have the obligation to cooperate so as to ensure that all notices, communications or summonses addressed to persons subject to their jurisdiction are duly executed. They shall also facilitate compliance with summonses by persons who either reside or are present within their territory.

2.    The same rule shall apply to any proceeding that the Court decides to conduct or order in the territory of a State Party to a case.

3.    When the performance of any of the measures referred to in the preceding paragraphs requires the cooperation of any other State, the President shall request the corresponding government to provide the requisite assistance.

Article 25. Provisional Measures

1.    At any stage of the proceedings involving cases of extreme gravity and urgency, and when necessary to avoid irreparable damage to persons, the Court may, at the request of a party or on its own motion, order such provisional measures as it deems pertinent, pursuant to Article 63(2) of the Convention.

2.    With respect to matters not yet submitted to it, the Court may act at the request of the Commission.

3.    The request may be made to the President, to any judge of the Court, or to the Secretariat, by any means of communication. In every case, the recipient of the request shall immediately bring it to the President's attention.

4.    If the Court is not sitting, the President, in consultation with the Permanent Commission and, if possible, with the other judges, shall call upon the government concerned to adopt such urgent measures as may be necessary to ensure the effectiveness of any provisional measures that may be ordered by the Court at its next session.

5.    The Court, or its President if the Court is not sitting, may convoke the parties to a public hearing on provisional measures.

6.    In its Annual Report to the General Assembly, the Court shall include a statement concerning the provisional measures ordered during the period covered by the report. If those measures have not been duly implemented, the Court shall make such recommendations as it deems appropriate.

Article 26. Filing of Briefs

1.    The application, the reply thereto, and any other briefs addressed to the Court, may be presented in person, by courier, facsimile, telex, mail or any other method generally used. If they are dispatched by electronic means, the original documents must be submitted within 15 days.

2.    The President may, in consultation with the Permanent Commission, reject any communication from the parties which he considers patently inadmissible, and shall order that it be returned to the interested party, without further action.

Article 27. Default Procedure

1.    When a party fails to appear in or continue with a case, the Court shall, on its own motion, take such measures as may be necessary to complete the consideration of the case.

2.    When a party enters a case at a later stage of the proceedings, it shall take up the proceedings at that stage.

Article 28. Joinder of Cases and Proceedings

1.    The Court may, at any stage of the proceedings, order the joinder of interrelated cases, when there is identity of parties, subject-matter and ruling law.

2.    The Court may also order that the written or oral proceedings of several cases, including the introduction of witnesses, be carried out jointly.

3.    After consulting the Agents and the Delegates, the President may direct that two or more cases be conducted simultaneously.

Article 29. Decisions

1.    The judgments and orders for discontinuance of a case shall be rendered exclusively by the Court.

2.    All other orders shall be rendered by the Court if it is sitting, and by the President if it is not, unless otherwise provided. Decisions of the President that are not purely procedural may be appealed before the Court.

3.       Judgments and orders of the Court may not be contested in any way.

Article 30. Publication of Judgments and Other Decisions

      1. The Court shall order the publication of:

a.   its judgments and other decisions, including separate opinions, dissenting or concurring, whenever they fulfill the requirements set forth in Article 55(2) of these Rules;

b.   documents from the dossier, except those considered irrelevant or unsuitable for publication;

c.    records of the hearings;

d.     any other document that the Court considers suitable for publication.

2.    The judgments shall be published in the working languages used in each case. All other documents shall be published in their original language.

3.       Documents relating to cases already adjudicated, and deposited with the Secretariat of the Court, shall be made accessible to the public, unless the Court decides otherwise.

Article 31. Application of Article 63(1) of the Convention

       Application of this provision may be invoked at any stage of the proceedings.

Chapter II

Written Proceedings

Article 32. Institution of the Proceedings

       For a case to be referred to the Court under Article 61(1) of the Convention, the application shall be filed in the Secretariat of the Court in the working languages. Whereas the filing of an application in only one working language shall not suspend the proceeding, the translations into the other language or languages must be submitted within 30 days.

Article 33. Filing of the Application

       The brief containing the application s