Judging the Charter
The Charter in judicial practise with a special focus on the case of protection of refugees and asylum seekers
Two women have some drinks in a well-known traditional café in Vienna. They chat and laugh and at some point kiss each other.
When the owner of the café sees this, she asks them to leave the place as such behaviour can not be tolerated in a traditional place like hers.
The couple leaves, but does not want to accept, how they have been treated.
Are Charter rights applicable in this case?
The case is based on a real story that took place in Vienna in January 2015. The owner of the Café has expelled the two women from her place based on the presumption that they were Lesbians and has consequently discriminated them in access and provision of goods and services.
Austrian law, in implementing and in line with EU Directive 78/2000, does protect against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in employment only. Article 21 prohibits discrimination on grounds of inter alia sexual discrimination in implementation of EU law. Charter rights can be referred to in order to scrutinize implementation of EU law but can not be used in order to extend ist scope.
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