Charter & ECHR Explorer

The Charter binds the EU institutions in everything they do, and binds the member states only when they are implementing EU law — applying an EU regulation, transposing a directive, or otherwise acting within the scope of Union law. A purely national matter with no EU law involved is outside the Charter, however serious it is; there your route is the national constitution and the ECHR. The Charter also does not extend the EU's powers or create new competences (Art. 51(2)).

Charter rights are not all absolute. A limitation is lawful only if it is provided for by law, respects the essence of the right, is genuinely necessary, and is proportionate to an objective of general interest or the protection of others' rights. Where a Charter right corresponds to an ECHR right, its meaning and scope are at least those of the Convention — EU law may go further in protection, never less far (Art. 52(3)).

Everyone has the right to respect for their private and family life, home and communications. In EU law this sits next to, but is not the same as, the separate right to data protection in Article 8 — surveillance, searches and interception engage this article even where no personal data file is involved.

Personal data must be processed fairly, for specified purposes, and on a legitimate basis laid down by law; everyone has the right to access data collected about them and to have it rectified, under the control of an independent authority. This is the constitutional root of the GDPR — the concrete rights you can actually exercise are in that Regulation, not here.

Everyone has the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers; the freedom and pluralism of the media are respected. Against a platform rather than a state, this right mostly bites through EU secondary law — the DSA's rules on content moderation and statements of reasons.

Discrimination on any ground — including sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation — is prohibited, as is discrimination on grounds of nationality within the scope of the Treaties. Unlike most Charter provisions, the CJEU has held this one can be relied on directly in a dispute between private parties.

Anyone whose EU-law rights are violated has the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal: a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, with the possibility of advice, defence and representation, and legal aid where needed to ensure effective access to justice. It is broader than its Convention counterparts — it is not limited to civil rights and criminal charges.

In the determination of civil rights and obligations or of a criminal charge, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, with the presumption of innocence and minimum defence rights in criminal cases. Note the limit: proceedings that are neither civil nor criminal in the Convention sense — many tax and immigration matters — fall outside it.

Everyone has the right to respect for their private and family life, home and correspondence. A public authority may interfere only where it is in accordance with the law and necessary in a democratic society for one of the listed aims — national security, public safety, the economic well-being of the country, prevention of disorder or crime, protection of health or morals, or the rights of others. In Convention practice this article carries data protection, surveillance and workplace-monitoring cases.

Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. The Convention is explicit that exercising it carries duties and responsibilities, so it may be restricted where prescribed by law and necessary in a democratic society — for national security, public safety, preventing disorder or crime, health, morals, the reputation or rights of others, confidential information, or the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

Anyone whose Convention rights are violated must have an effective remedy before a national authority, even where the violation was committed by people acting officially. This is the article behind the requirement to exhaust domestic remedies before Strasbourg: the national system is supposed to be able to fix it first.

Enjoyment of the Convention rights must be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status. Unlike Charter Article 21, this one is not free-standing: it attaches to another Convention right, so it cannot be invoked on its own (Protocol 12 provides a general ban, but only for the states that ratified it).

Any person, non-governmental organisation or group of individuals claiming to be the victim of a violation by one of the states bound by the Convention may apply to the European Court of Human Rights. "Victim" means personally and directly affected — you cannot complain about a law in the abstract, or on behalf of the public. States undertake not to hinder the exercise of this right.

The Court may deal with a case only after all domestic remedies have been exhausted, and within four months of the final domestic decision. The four-month limit came in with Protocol No. 15 and applies where the final domestic decision was taken on or after 1 February 2022; before that the limit was six months. An application is also inadmissible if it is anonymous, substantially the same as a matter already examined, manifestly ill-founded, or an abuse of the right of application.