Recommendation 15

The absolute cessation of civil claims upon introduction of the Bill is not consistent with the rule of law or with the right of access to a court as protected by Article 6 ECHR. Limitation periods for civil cases are legitimate, but they should not be imposed retrospectively (see Annex, Amendment 14). It would be in accordance with the rule of law and the right of access to a court for the Bill to introduce a limitation period of, say, five years following the establishment of the ICRIR. This would allow individuals to bring claims arising from any new information disclosed during the course of the reviews undertaken by the ICRIR over the next five years (see Annex, Amendment 15). We also suggest that the courts should be able to exercise some discretion to allow for claims to be brought outside the limitation period where it would be equitable to do so. We propose an amendment to give effect to this recommendation (see Annex, Amendment 15).