NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

and correspondence. It has to be mentioned that the term ‘home’ has an autonomous meaning in the Convention and includes the right to respect for a company’s registered office, branches or other business premises. Consequently, the main issues concerning the rights of legal entities under this Article are allegedly unlawful searches of the business premises, seizure of documents and secret surveillance. The key factor influencing the question of the applicability of the rights under Article 8 to legal entities is a sufficiently direct link between the person, as such, and the alleged breaches of the Convention. The rights in issue must belong to the applicant legal entity, not to its members. In a number of cases, both natural and legal persons submitted the applications to the Court. Here, the applicant individuals usually were members or the owners of the applicant associations or companies. Very often, they invoked a breach of Article 8 only in respect to individuals. Such an approach may be explained by the fact that there is no doubt as to the applicability of the rights envisaged by it to natural persons and, consequently, the applicants preferred to avoid the risk of lodging potentially inadmissible complaints. The limited number of judgments under Article 8 of the Convention regarding legal persons leads us to the conclusion that the institution of the right to respect for private and family life in relation to Article 34 NGOs is in a stage of development. The Court rendered most of the judgments in this respect only in the beginning of the twenty-first century. For example, the right to respect for ‘home’ was first spread to the business premises of individuals, 751 and only a few years later was confirmed in respect to a legal entity. 752 Presently, a number of cases exist where the Court has dealt with the right to a name or the right to a reputation. 753 Taking into account the fact that the Convention is a living instrument, it is possible to expect the expansion of these and some other rights to legal entities, as well. The rights of businesses may come into play in particular in light of the extension of the legislation on corporate criminal liability in the Council of Europe member states. Given that the right to name and reputation are elements of the right to private life, a chance exists that the right to respect for ‘private life’ finally will be guaranteed to legal persons. The next part of the book will turn to the guarantees under Article 9 of the Convention. This provision sets forth the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Most frequently, this provision is invoked by Article 34 NGOs in the form of religious organisations.

Niemietz , cited above.

751

752 Société Colas Est , cited above. 753 The right to reputation may also be seen as an asset and protected under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.

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