PART 1: Overview of the Concil of Europe, the Convention and the Court Norway 03/09/53 18/05/54 02/05/68 01/11/88 01/01/89  – Poland 19/01/93 10/10/94 10/10/94 01/11/00 01/03/03  – 01/09/14 Portugal 09/11/78 09/11/78 09/11/78 01/11/86 01/03/05  – 01/02/04 Romania 20/06/94 20/06/94 20/06/94 01/07/94 01/09/94  – 01/08/03 Russia 05/05/98 05/05/98 05/05/98  – – 01/08/98  – 01/12/05 San Marino 22/03/89 22/03/89 22/03/89 01/04/89 01/06/89 01/04/05 01/08/03 Serbia 03/03/04 03/03/04 03/03/04 01/04/04 01/06/04 01/04/05 01/07/04 Slovakia 01/01/93 01/01/93 Slovenia 28/06/94 28/06/94 28/06/94 01/07/94 01/09/94 01/11/10 01/01/93 01/01/93 01/01/93  – 01/12/05 01/04/04 Spain 04/10/79 27/11/90 16/09/09 01/03/85 01/12/09 01/06/08 01/04/10 Sweden 03/09/53 18/05/54 02/05/68 01/03/85 01/11/88  – 01/08/03 Switzerland 28/11/74  –  –  – 01/07/03 The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 10/04/97 01/11/87 01/11/88 10/04/97 10/04/97 01/05/97 01/07/97 01/04/05 01/11/04 Turkey 18/05/54 18/05/54  – 01/12/03 Ukraine 11/09/97 11/09/97 11/09/97 01/05/00 01/12/97 01/07/06 01/07/03  –  – United Kingdom 03/09/53 18/05/54  – 01/06/99  –  – 01/06/06 01/02/04 1.3 The Judges and the Registry of the Court 1.3.1 The Judges The Court consists of a number of judges equal to the number of the Contracting Parties.12 Currently there are 47 judges.13 There is no restriction on the number of judges of the same nationality.14 The judges sit on the Court in their personal capacity and do not represent the State Party of which they are a national, or any other State. Judges are elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to sit for a period of nine years. They may not be re-elected. They retire when they reach the age of 70. Pursuant to Rules 24 § 2 (b) and 26 § 1 (a) of the Rules of Court, judges elected in respect of the Contracting Party concerned shall sit as an ex officio member of the Grand Chamber or the Chamber.15 In case a judge is unable to sit on the case, for reasons set out in Rule 28 of the Rules of Court, the judge in question is required to give notice to the President of the Chamber. The President of the Chamber will 12 13 14 15 Article 20 of the Convention. A current list of judges may be consulted at http://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=court/ judges (last visited 23 July 2014). For example, the present judge elected in respect of Liechtenstein is a national of Switzerland. For the purposes of this Guide, such judges will be referred to as ‘national judges’. 23