3
July 21, 1989. It is the latter judgment whose interpretation the Commission now
seeks.
12. The composition of the Court was as prescribed by Article 54(3) of the
Convention, which states that the judges of the Court shall continue to participate in
those cases that they have begun to her and that are still at the judgment stage.
That provision must also be applied to the decision regarding the interpretation of
judgments to which Articles 67 of the Convention and 48 of the Rules of Procedure
refer because, under general rules of procedural law, a contentious case cannot be
deemed to have been concluded until the judgment has been fully complied with. By
analogy, it follows that the judges shall continue to participate when the case is at
the enforcement stage. This is so, in particular, because the Court decided in its
Judgment of July 21, 1989, that it would supervise compliance with the award of
damages and that the case would not be deemed closed until compensation was paid
in full.
13. Article 54(3) of the Convention is based on similar rules contained in the Statute
of the International Court of Justice and in the (European) Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Article 13(3) of that Statute
provides, essentially, that after the judges of the International Court of Justice have
been replaced, they shall nevertheless continue to hear the cases they had begun
and see them through to their conclusion. Article 40(6) of the European Convention
declares that, in the same circumstances, the judges of the European Court shall
continue to hear the cases that have been entrusted to them. According to Article 56
of that Court's Rules of Procedure, [t]he request for interpretion shall be considered
by the Chamber which gave the judgment and which shall, as far as possible, be
composed of the same judges ....
14. The Court has jurisdiction to comply with the instant request for interpretation
because Article 67 of the Convention provides that:
The judgment of the Court shall be final and not subject to
appeal. In case of disagreement as to the meaning or scope of the
judgment, the Court shall interpret it at the request of any of the
parties, provided the request is made within ninety days from the date
of notification of the judgment.
Article 48 of the Rules of Procedure, for its part, states the following:
Article 48. Request for an Interpretation of a Judgment
1.
Request for an interpretation allowed under the terms of
Article 67 of the Convention shall be presented in twenty copies and
shall indicate precisely the points in the operative provision of the
judgment on which interpretation is requested. It shall be filed with
the Secretary.
2.
The Secretary shall communicate the request to any other
party and, where appropriate, to the Commission, and shall invite
them to submit, in twenty copies, any written comments within a
period fixed by the President.
3.
Court.
The nature of the proceedings shall be determined by the
4.
A request for interpretation shall not suspend the effect of the
judgment.