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The European Court of Human Rights is currently overloaded with cases. Some 90% of all applications are eventually declared inadmissible. Such cases clog up the Court's docket and obstruct its examination of more deserving cases where the admissibility requirements have been satisfied and which may concern serious allegations of human rights violations. The 2010 Interlaken Conference on the reform of the Court called upon the "States Parties and the Court to ensure that comprehensive and objective information is provided to potential applicants on the Convention and the Court's case-law, in particular on the application procedures and admissibility criteria." The Court's first response to this call was to prepare this practical guide on admissibility criteria. The guide seeks to reduce the number of obviously inadmissible cases by enabling legal practitioners to properly advise their clients on their chances of bringing an admissible application. This second edition covers case-law up to the end of March 2011 and provides lay applicants with more succinct information on the admissibility criteria. The book includes a foreword by Sir Nicolas Bratza, President of the European Court of Human Rights.