domestic remedies is a requirement that must be fulfilled prior to submitting the petition
before the Commission.
Indeed, Article 30(1) and (2), of the Rules of Procedure, entitled “Admissibility Procedure,”
establish:
“1. The Commission, through its Executive Secretariat, shall process the petitions that
meet the requirements set forth in Article 28 of these Rules of Procedure.
2. For this purpose, it shall forward the relevant parts of the petition to the State in
question. The request for information made to the State shall not constitute a
prejudgment with regard to any decision the Commission may adopt on the
admissibility of the petition.” 21
In this regard, it should be borne in mind that the forwarding to the State concerned ordered
by the Commission can only be of the petition itself, as long as it complies with the
requirement to provide information on the steps taken to exhaust domestic remedies or
indicates the impossibility of doing so. That is to say, the forwarding of the petition must
proceed on the assumption that it complies with the aforementioned requirement. The
above rule does not establish, therefore, that said requirement must or may be fulfilled at
a time subsequent to the filing of the petition. Likewise, attention must be paid to the fact
that the petition must be transferred in the form in which it was filed and, therefore, must
include the reference to the aforementioned requirement.
c. Response of the State and observations of the parties
According to Article 30(3), first phrase, and 5 of the Rules of Procedure,
“3. The State shall submit its response within three months from the date the request
is transmitted.
[...]
5. Prior to deciding upon the admissibility of the petition, the Commission may invite
the parties to submit additional observations, either in writing or in a hearing, as
provided for in Chapter VI of these Rules of Procedure.” 22
Thus, it is in this context that we should understand the Court’s assertion that “an objection
to the jurisdiction of the Court based on the supposed failure to exhaust domestic remedies
must be filed at the appropriate procedural opportunity, that is, during the admissibility
stage of the proceedings before the Commission.” 23
Obviously, the State’s response to the petition forwarded to it and the additional
observations of the parties in response to the invitation extended to them, must refer to
21
Has the same wording as Article 30(1) and (2) of the current Rules of Procedure.
22
In the same terms as Article 30(3), first phrase, and 5 of the current Rules of Procedure.
23
Para. 39.
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