The Involvement of the European Court of Human Rights in the Implementation of its Judgments: Recent Developments under Article 46 ECHR

Over the last decade the Court has been progressively involved in the execution of its judgments. The traditional approach, according to which the judgments of the Court are only of a declaratory nature and the Committee of Ministers has an exclusive competence to supervise their execution, does not correspond to recent practice. The Court has repeatedly recommended or even prescribed general or individual measures in the framework not only of pilot or quasi-pilot judgments, but also of “ordinary” ones. It is uncontestable that the Committee of Ministers bears the primary responsibility in the field of execution. Nevertheless, its powers are not exclusive. The Court has a complementary competence in this respect. The relevant case law has a solid legal basis in the Convention, as well as in instruments recently adopted by the Committee of Ministers. However, when indicating execution measures it is necessary for the Court to maintain and respect the institutional balance provided in the Convention and to leave, as a matter of principle, a more or less wide margin of appreciation to States