Complaints under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant, which at first glance contain the necessary elements, are referred to the Special Rapporteur of the Committee on New Communications and Interim Measures, who decides whether the case should be registered and transmitted to the State party for comment. Given the large number of complaints submitted to the Committee, the time period from the initial submission of the complaint to the final decision of the Committee may be several years.
According to the Optional Protocol, there is no time limit for submitting complaints to the Committee. However, in order to prevent possible abuses in this regard, the Committee has included in its rules of procedure a separate rule on delays in submission. According to the current rule 96 (c), delay in submission does not automatically constitute an abuse of the right to submit a complaint. However, such abuse may occur if the applicant has submitted a complaint after five years after the exhaustion of domestic remedies or, where applicable, after three years after the completion of another procedure of international investigation or settlement, unless there are reasons justifying the delay, taking into account all the circumstances of the relevant case.
The Human Rights Committee cannot consider a complaint if the same issue is being considered at the same time by another mechanism of international investigation or settlement. Some States parties have made reservations with a view to excluding the competence of the Committee not only in relation to cases already under consideration, but also in relation to cases that have been considered by another international mechanism and on which a decision has been taken. The Committee considers that the Human Rights Council's complaints procedure, special rapporteurs or working groups are not such a mechanism. Consequently, a complaint to the Human Rights Committee will not be declared inadmissible if it has also been submitted to one of these mechanisms of the Human Rights Council.
As to what exactly is the "same issue", the Committee considers that this means the same applicant, the same facts and the same basic rights. Facts that have been submitted to another international mechanism may be submitted to the Committee if the Covenant provides for broader protection. In addition, complaints rejected by other international mechanisms on procedural grounds are not considered to have been considered on the merits; therefore, the same facts can be referred to the Committee.
The Human Rights Committee has identified a number of exceptions to the rule that it cannot consider facts that occurred before the entry into force of the Optional Protocol for the State party concerned. Thus, the Committee will consider a complaint concerning facts that took place before the date of entry into force of the Protocol, if after that date an appropriate court decision or any other State decision justifying these facts was taken.