Protocol No. 16 to the Convention: ECHR concludes consideration of Supreme Court’s first request and accepts second request for advisory opinion

On 4 February, 2026, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) completed its consideration of the first request for an advisory opinion submitted by the Supreme Court on June 25, 2025, in case No. 607/15144/20.

This case involved a dispute over a former nun’s right to use a cell in a monastery building.

Given the importance of the advisory opinion, the President of the ECHR will deliver it at a public hearing scheduled for March 5, 2026, at 12:00 (Kyiv time) at the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg.

The hearing will be livestreamed on the ECHR’s YouTube channel, accessible via the Court’s website (www.echr.coe.int). Further details are available here: https://www.echr.coe.int/w/forthcoming-advisory-opinion-2.

At the same time, the ECHR has accepted the Supreme Court’s second request for an advisory opinion.

This request concerns a dispute between a private enterprise and the tax authority regarding the lawfulness and proportionality of a fine imposed for selling fuel and alcoholic products using a cash register (Register of Settlement Operations) registered with the tax authorities but not included in the license appendices. The company argued that the sanction was disproportionate given its status as a small business entity, while the tax authority insisted on the obligation to amend the licenses within one month and on the proven violation (ruling of the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court – https://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/132336169).

The Supreme Court’s request addressed whether a national court, having found a sanction disproportionate, may apply a lesser sanction not provided for by law but one that meets the requirement of proportionality.

On February 16, 2026, a five-judge panel of the ECHR Grand Chamber decided to accept the request for consideration. At this stage, the panel addressed only the admissibility of the request itself.

The ECHR’s English-language press release on the acceptance of the Supreme Court’s request is available here: https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press?i=003-8462572-11987922.