Abstract:
The applicability of the European Convention on Human Rights to
contraventions is controversial. The „Engel criteria”, firstly issued in the Case of
Engel and others v. the Netherlands (8 June 1976), are used by the European Court
of Human Rights to explain if it has jurisdiction and if the case is of „criminal
matter” in its own view.Through this scientific article we intend to study the „Engel criteria” and therefore to explain why cases of contravention matter can be examined by the
European Court of Human Rights and what is the judicial nature of contraventions
from the perspective of the European Court of Human Rights.