Rule 39 of the Rules of Court stipulates the following:

1. The Chamber or, where appropriate, the President of the Section or a duty judge appointed pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Rule may, at the request of a party or of any other person concerned, or of their own motion, indicate to the parties any interim measure which they consider should be adopted in the interests of the parties or of the proper conduct of the proceedings.
2. Where it is considered appropriate, immediate notice of the measure adopted in a particular case may be given to the Committee of Ministers.
3. The Chamber or, where appropriate, the President of the Section or a duty judge appointed pursuant to paragraph 4 of this Rule may request information from the parties on any matter connected with the implementation of any interim measure indicated.
4. The President of the Court may appoint Vice-Presidents of Sections as duty judges to decide on requests for interim measures.

The Court may, under Rule 39 of its Rules of Court, indicate interim measures to any State Party to the Convention. Interim measures are urgent measures which, in accordance with the established practice of the Court, apply only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable damage (see Mamatkulov and Askarov v. Turkey [GC], nos. 46827/99 and 46951/99, § 104, 4 February 2005 and Paladi v. Moldova [GC], no. 39806/05, §§ 86-90, 10 March 2009).

Interim measures are temporary and urgent measures that are applied mainly in cases of alleged violations of Article 2, 3 and rarely 8 of the Convention /the existence of the question of extradition and/or the question of individual’s transfer to a civilian hospital/.

Interim measures may be indicated for the duration of the proceedings before the Court or for a limited period of time. An order under Rule 39 may be lifted at any time by a decision of the Court. In particular, as an order under Rule 39 is linked to the proceedings before the Court, the measure may be lifted if the application is not maintained.

A request for indicating an interim measure can be filed on behalf of either an individual or the Government.

Although interim measures are provided for only in the Rules of Court and not in the European Convention on Human Rights, States Parties are under an obligation to comply with them. Two Grand Chamber judgments (see below) have given the Court an opportunity to clarify this obligation, based particularly on Article 34 (individual applications) of the European Convention on human rights.

Interim measures may be indicated for the duration of the proceedings before the Court or for a limited period of time. An order under Rule 39 may be lifted at any time by a decision of the Court. In particular, as an order under Rule 39 is linked to the proceedings before the Court, the measure may be lifted if the application is not maintained.