European Court of Human Rights

The new European Union Reform Treaty, adopted on 18-19 October 2007 in Lisbon, establishes in Article 6, the legal basis for the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The ECHR was signed in Rome under the aegis of the Council of Europe in November 1950. It offered protection of fundamental civil and political rights and established an enforcement machinery through the European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg. Individuals who deem their rights have been violated in one country can bring their case to the Strasbourg court after exhaustion of national remedies.

The EU has developed a separate legal order, with the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg as its highest court. The ECHR and its judicial mechanism do not apply to EU acts, although all member states of the Union, as parties to the convention, have an obligation to respect the ECHR even when they are applying or implementing EU law. This can only be corrected by the EU, as such, becoming a Party to the Convention.

The EU's accession will strengthen therefore the protection of human rights in Europe, by submitting the Union’s legal system to independent external control. It will also close gaps in legal protection by giving European citizens the same protection vis-à-vis acts of the Union as they presently enjoy from member states.

The new Reform Treaty requires ratification by all EU member States. All States Parties to the ECHR as well as the EU as such, will also have to express their consent to be bound by the key accession modalities, which will require formal consent by national Parliaments as well as the European Parliament.

Article 6 of the new Reform Treaty establishes the legal basis for EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights Statement by President of the Court Jean-Paul Costa Statement by Secretary General Terry Davis