Advisory Jurisdiction and Fertilization between Courts: To What Extent Could San José Borrow from Strasbourg?

Unlike the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has made extensive use of its advisory competence. Yet, the recent adoption of Protocol No. 16 to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) will provide the ECtHR with a new advisory competence inspired to a preliminary ruling proce-dure, so that the judicial scenario could significantly change. In an international legal context characterized by an increasing tendency towards judicial interaction, the introduction of a similar competence for the San José Court will be assessed. In order to properly evaluate such a possibility, the particularities which characterize the two regional systems will be duly considered. Yet, a likewise incidental mechanism could prove useful under a peculiar rationale, in the light of the recent jurisprudential evolution of the IACtHR.