NGOs under European Convention on Human Rights / Tymofeyeva

persons and groups are. Usually, it is presumed that an individual is a person, and a number of natural persons are a group of individuals. When a group of people registered under the national law under a special procedure, they may become a legal person 177 or an NGO. However, the analysis of the case-law of the Court shows that this understanding of the differentiation is not always clear. Any person Let us have a look at the difference between the terms ‘any person’ and ‘non governmental organisation’ within the meaning of Article 34 of the Convention. The diversity in meanings in the English and French versions of the Convention may strongly influence the understanding of the possible subjects covered by the categories in question. The French version is more precise and comprises the expression ‘personne physique’, the meaning of which is clearly an individual (natural person). The English version contains the expression ‘any person’, which may be understood as a common name for both natural and legal persons. Therefore, under the English version it is unclear whether legal entities are ‘persons’ or ‘NGOs’. The authors of the Czech manual on the Convention believe that there is no need to demarcate between the two 178 and to include legal persons in one of these two groups. In her commentary to Article 34 of the Convention, Donna Gomien writes that the Convention protects “the rights of individuals, that is natural or legal persons, not groups as such”. 179 This expression may lead us to the conclusion that legal persons are ‘any person’ rather than an NGO. Marius Emberland, in his monograph “The human rights of companies: exploring the structure of ECHR protection”, 180 with reference to the Travaux Préparatoires 181 to the Convention, writes that the initial text of Article 25 of the Convention included the following list of applicants: “any natural or legal person or the group of individuals”. 182 The final version of Article 25 (currently Article 34) of the Convention contained the phrase ‘non-governmental organisation’ instead of the expression ‘legal person’. We may infer that by the term ‘NGO’, the authors of the Convention were implying legal entities. This was later confirmed in the Court’s judgments in the cases of Ukraine 177 It is not obligatory to have a group of individuals to establish a legal entity. For example, a sole participant may set up a limited liability company inmany countries. This is the situation, for example, in the Czech Republic under Act No.90/2012 Coll., on Commercial Corporations, as amended; in Russia under the Federal Law of 8 February 1998 No. 14-FZ “On Limited Liability Companies”; in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006 and in Ukraine under the Law of Ukraine “On Business Associations” No. 1576 -XII of September 19, 1991. 178 KMEC, 2012, cited above, p. 25. 179 GOMIEN, 2005, cited above, p. 167. 180 EMBERLAND, M. The human rights of companies: exploring the structure of ECHR protection , Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 35. 181 The Preparatory Works to Article 25 of the Convention, 9 June 1964. The text is available from accessed 20 July 2015. 182 “…1‘article 25 de la Convention qui definit le droit des personnes physiques ou morales ou des groupes de particuliers de saisir la Commission …”. The Preparatory Works, ibid , p. 23.

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