purposes of article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol. in conjunction with the right to effective remedy as provided under article 2, paragraph 3. 6.4 The Committee further considers that the proceedings instituted by the second author and his late father have been considerably protracted, spanning a period of ten years, and thus may be considered to be “unreasonably prolonged” within the meaning of article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol. The Committee does not consider that the delays encountered are attributable to the second author or his late father. 7.3 The Committee notes the statement of the authors that the District Office and Ministry of Interior, in their decisions of 6 March and 17 June 1998, arbitrarily re-interpreted his application on resumption of proceedings on retention of citizenship and applied the State party’s current citizenship laws rather than Decree No. 33/1945, on which the initial application had been based. The Committee further notes that the latter decision was quashed by the Prague High Court and yet referred back for a rehearing. In its second assessment of the case, the Ministry of Interior applied Decree No. 33/1945, and denied the application. 6.5 As to the State party’s claim that the authors failed to exhaust domestic remedies in relation to his claim of prohibited discrimination, the Committee recalls that the authors did not invoke the specific issue of discrimination before the Czech courts; accordingly, they have not exhausted domestic remedies in this respect. The Committee concludes that this part of the claim is inadmissible under article 5, paragraph 2 (b), of the Optional Protocol. 7.4 The Committee recalls its jurisprudence that the interpretation and application of domestic law is essentially a matter for the courts and authorities of the State party concerned. However, in the pursuit of a claim under domestic law, the individual must have access to effective remedies, which implies that the administrative authorities must act in conformity with the binding decisions of national courts, as admitted by the State party itself. The Committee notes that the decision of the Ministry of Interior of 31 May 2002, as well as its confirmation by the Minister on 1 January 2003, were both quashed by the Prague Town Court on 5 May 2004. According to the authors, the Town Court ruled that the authorities had taken these decisions without the required reasoning and arbitrarily, and that they had ignored substantive evidence provided by the applicants, including the author’s father, Eugen Czernin. The Committee notes that the State party has not contested this part of the authors’ account. 6.6 With regard to the claim that the author was a victim of unequal application of the law in violation of article 26, the Committee considers that this claim may raise issues on the merits. 6.7 Regarding the authors’ claim that they are victims of a violation of their right to a fair hearing under article 14, paragraph 1, the Committee notes that the authors do not contest the proceedings before the courts, but the non-implementation of the courts’ decisions by administrative authorities. The Committee recalls that the notion of “rights and obligations in a suit at law” in article 14, paragraph 1, applies to disputes related to the right to property. It considers that the author has sufficiently substantiated his claim, for the purposes of admissibility, that the way in which the Czech administrative authorities re-interpreted his application and the laws to be applied to it, the delay in reaching a final decision, and the authorities’ failure to implement the judicial decisions may raise issues under article 14, paragraph 1, in conjunction with article 2, paragraph 3. The Committee decides that this claim should be examined on its merits. 7.5 The Committee further notes that since the authors’ application for resumption of proceedings in 1995, they have repeatedly been confronted with the frustration arising from the administrative authorities’ refusal to implement the relevant decisions of the courts. The Committee considers that the inaction of the administrative authorities and the excessive delays in implementing the relevant courts’ decisions are in violation of article 14, paragraph 1, in conjunction with article 2, paragraph 3, which provides for the right to an effective remedy. Consideration of the merits 7.1 The Human Rights Committee has considered the present communication in the light of all the information made available to it by the parties, as provided in article 5, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol. 8. The Human Rights Committee, acting under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol, is of the view that the facts before it disclose a violation of article 14, paragraph 1, of the Covenant. With regard to the above finding, the Committee considers that it is not necessary to examine the claim under article 26 of the Covenant. 7.2 The main issue before the Committee is whether the administrative authorities (the District Office in Jindříchův Hradec and the Ministry of Interior) acted in a way that violated the authors’ right, under article 14, paragraph 1, to a fair hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, 9. In accordance with article 2, paragraph 3 (a), of the Covenant, the State party is under an obligation to provide the author with an effective 83