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   Protocol No. 15 amending the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

To maintain the effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights, this Protocol makes the following changes to the Convention (ETS no. 005):

–   Adding a reference to the principle of subsidiarity and the doctrine of the margin of appreciation to the Preamble of the Convention;
–   Shortening from six to four months the time limit within which an application must be made to the Court;
–   Amending the ‘significant disadvantage’ admissibility criterion to remove the second safeguard preventing rejection of an application that has not been duly considered by a domestic tribunal;
–   Removing the right of the parties to a case to object to relinquishment of jurisdiction over it by a Chamber in favour of the Grand Chamber;
–   Replacing the upper age limit for judges by a requirement that candidates for the post of judge be less than 65 years of age at the date by which the list of candidates has been requested by the Parliamentary Assembly.

Protocol No. 15 amending the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has been adopted by the Committee of Ministers at its 123rd Session, on 16 May 2013, and will be opened for signature in Strasbourg on 24 June 2013.

The Protocol and its Explanatory report