Business and Human rights
All Updates
Bülent Akçay v. Türkiye, no. 41669/21
Cancellation of two taxi licenses belonging to the applicant on the grounds that he had not been operating them for more than six months.
Judgment
Vendrame and Others v. Italy (dec.), no. 47565/22
Restrictions limiting the use of the applicants’ land (i.e., prohibition of replanting a poplar grove) due to the establishment of a protected natural area, and the lack of any payment for those restrictions.
Decision
Green Alliance v. Bulgaria, no. 6580/22
Complaints about the legal framework permitting the infiltration of “agents on cover” into private organisations and “liberal professions”.
Judgment | Legal Summary
Sharabidze and Others v. Georgia (dec.), no. 28062/20
Alleged failure of the domestic courts to protect the property rights of the applicants (a company, its sole owner and his family members) in civil proceedings against a private bank, after the applicants had failed to pay back a loan and their mortgaged property had been transferred to the bank.
Decision
SIC - Sociedade Independente de Comunicação, S.A v. Portugal (no. 2), no. 2746/21
Applicant television company ordered by the Supreme Court to pay damages to two private individuals for broadcasting, without their express consent, a recording of them at a stand-up comedy show for promotional purposes.
Judgment
Ferrieri and Bonassisa v. Italy, nos. 40607/19 and 34583/20
Access to and examination of the applicants’ banking data, including transaction histories and other financial operations related to or traceable to the applicants, by the authorities for tax audit purposes.
Judgment
Latorre Atance v. Spain, no. 33818/22
Conflicting judgments delivered by the same Chamber of the Audiencia Nacional in closely related proceedings, in one of which the applicant was found liable for third-party tax debts.
Judgment
Scheffer and Others v. Slovakia (dec.), nos. 16627/21 and 47 others
Measures taken against the spread of Covid-19 during the pandemic and the impact of these measures on the applicants’ business interests.
Decision
Vujović and Lipa D.O.O. v. Montenegro (no. 2), no. 43050/22
Repeated refusal of Court of Appeal to comply with Constitutional Court’s rulings concerning the wrongful opening of lengthy insolvency proceedings in respect of the applicant company, which resulted in the sale of most of its properties.
Judgment
Geo Solar Doo Delchevo v. North Macedonia (dec.), no. 19088/21
Alleged deprivation of possessions as a result of allegedly unlawful delay in the processing of the applicant company’s application for preferential tariffs for solar energy production, and the reduction of these tariffs during that period.
Decision
Tartamella and Others v. Italy, nos. 26338/19 and 2 others
Seizure and confiscation of the applicants’ assets, of a value equivalent to the proceeds from offences committed by their family members, on the basis that the assets were at the offenders’ disposal.
Judgment
Basyuk and Others v. Ukraine, nos. 55156/19 and 10 others
Refusal, particularly on grounds of force majeure, to grant the applicants’ claims regarding salary and various dismissal-related payments owed by their former employer, a State entity, after it ceased to operate on account of the military activity in the territories where they had been employed.
Judgment | Legal Summary
Šabanović and Others v. Serbia, nos. 39819/16 and 4 others
Dismissal of compensation claims by police officers for unpaid salary supplements for work on public holidays, night work and overtime.
Judgment
Italmoda Mariano Previti and Others v. the Netherlands (dec.), no. 16395/18
Supplementary VAT assessments issued to the applicant company for failure to comply with exemption rules.
Decision
Semenya v. Switzerland [GC], no. 10934/21
Dismissal by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court of a civil-law appeal lodged by a professional athlete against an award rendered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which rejected her complaint concerning regulations requiring her to lower her natural testosterone level to compete in the women’s category of international competitions.
Judgment | Legal Summary
Google LLC and Others v. Russia, no. 37027/22
Imposition of substantial fines on Google LLC for (a) failure to comply with take-down requests concerning user-generated content hosted on YouTube, containing a broad range of content, including political expression, criticism of the Government, reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by independent news outlets, and support for LGBTQ rights; (b) failure to comply with a domestic courts’ order to restore a television channel’s YouTube account, which had been suspended due to sanctions imposed on the channel’s owner for providing material and public support for Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Judgment
Radobuljac v. Croatia (no. 2), no. 38785/18
Authorities’ refusal to offset the applicant’s tax debt with his enforceable claims against the State, which are unrelated to taxation.
Judgment
Străisteanu v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 9989/20
Obligation imposed on the applicant, a lawyer and well-known LGBTQ+ rights activist, to remove videos from her Facebook page that showed another lawyer making insulting and homophobic remarks toward her just before the Pride parade.
Judgment
Seksimp Group SRL v. the Republic of Moldova, no. 30085/13
Private dispute over the alleged failure to fulfil the contractual obligations of a tenancy agreement, following which the domestic courts ordered the applicant company to pay an allegedly disproportionate amount of compensation.
Judgment
Versaci v. Italy, no. 3795/22
Refusal by the head of police to grant the applicant a “public security licence” to carry out bookmaking activities on behalf of a foreign company, for not fulfilling the “good character” requirement under domestic law.
Judgment
