The Slovak Government has taken a further step towards strengthening legal certainty and justice in Slovakia. The Government did so when adopted a Resolution No. 359 of 21 August 2019 and initiated the process of ratification of the Protocol No. 16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

The Protocol itself entered into force on 1 August 2018, after being ratified by the first 10 States of the Council of Europe. So far, 12 Member States of the Council of Europe have ratified the Protocol and Slovakia will soon join.

After the successful ratification by the Slovak president, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic and the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, as a tribunal standing outside the general system of courts, will be able to request a non-binding advisory opinion from the ECHR. The court will only be able to request an advisory opinion on the case currently pending, by reasoned request. At the same time, the ECHR must obtain the relevant legal and factual background to the case from the court. After discussing the matter and drawing up the opinion, the ECHR will deliver this opinion to the court and the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic.

Slovak Government has also determined that the Supreme Court will have the right to request the ECHR for an advisory opinion only when acting in the position of the Court of Cassation and the Court of Appeal. This means when deciding on the contested final judgment of the regional court issued in the administrative judiciary and when deciding on the appeal as an extraordinary remedy.

Since the Constitution of the Slovak Republic stipulates that the Protocol is a presidential "international treaty on human rights and fundamental freedoms", the approval of the National Council of the Slovak Republic is required before its ratification by the president. For this reason, the Government also recommended the National Council to agree with ratification and to decide that it is an international treaty that takes precedence over the Slovak legislation. After the National Council gives its consent, President Zuzana Čaputová will be able to ratify the Protocol.

Although it is not yet clear whether the party to the dispute will be able to initiate a request for an opinion on the ECHR, we believe that ratification of the Protocol will clearly strengthen access to justice. If a fundamental question concerning the interpretation and application of the rights and freedoms referred to in the Convention is raised in the proceedings, the possibility of referring it to the court constituted by this Convention will be available. Subsequently, after the end of Slovak judicial proceeding, its unsuccessful party will decide whether to turn to the ECHR as he/she will already have the ECHR´s legal opinion on the matter.