Furthermore, in terms of article 18 of the Organic Law No. 013-2000/AN of 9 May 2000, on the organisation, jurisdiction and functioning of the “Cour de Cassation” and its procedure “...where the referral is ordered by the combined chambers of the “Cour de Cassation”, the lower court to which the matter is referred has to comply with the decision of the combined chambers on the points of law addressed by the latter. Finally, in terms of article 19 of the same law, “[the ‘Cour de Cassation] in reversing a decision without referral may put an end to litigation when the facts of the matter are such that they allow for application of the appropriate law. 70. It is therefore clear that appeal at the Cour de Cassation is not a waste of time and it can in certain circumstances lead to a change or change the substance of a decision; and without making such an appeal, one may not know what the Court would have decided. As the European Court of Human Rights noted, in a matter concerning France which belongs to the same legal family as Burkina Faso: “the Cour de Cassation’” is among the local remedies to be exhausted in principle to comply with article 35 of the Convention*.” From the foregoing, it is evident that the appeal provided by the Burkinabé judicial system is an effective remedy, which the individual applicants should have accessed so as to comply with the rule of exhaustion of local remedies required under article 56(5) of the Charter and Rule 40(5) of the Rules. 71. It is understood that this conclusion does not in any way prejudge the distinct issue as to whether the procedure relating to a given remedy is unduly prolonged. This issue will now be addressed by the Court. 2) The issue of unduly prolonged procedure 72. In its preliminary objections and response to the Applicants’ submission regarding the unduly prolonged nature of the procedures, the Respondent argues, firstly, that “the unduly prolonged nature of the procedure ...is determined only in cases where available 4 Matter of Civet versus France, ruling of 28 September 1999, paragraph 41. See also the jurisprudence cited in the same vein and paragraph 43. See further the Matter of Yahaoui v. France, 20 January 2000 ruling, paragraph 32. 24 (eo- A/ 1 aod