Suchergebnisse

This contribution analyses the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Österreichische Vereinigung zur Erhaltung, Stärkung und Schaffung eines wirtschaftlich gesunden land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Grundbesitzes v Austria1 which was handed down in November 2013. In this judgment, the Court affirmed a violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (echr), because an Austrian appellate authority refused entirely to provide access to its past decisions. After an introduction into recent developments regarding the 'right to receive information', the facts of the case are presented. Subsequently, the Court's reasoning in the assessment of the case is analysed with a view to the questions 'interference', 'prescription by law', 'legitimate aims' and 'proportionality' (stricto sensu). The Court's supplementation of the traditional concept 'public watchdog' by the new notion of 'social watchdog' shall be outlined and a critical view on this legal innovation shall be provided, also with regard to the Court's recent case law which is already pointing in this direction.