Judging the Charter

The Charter in judicial practise with a special focus on the case of protection of refugees and asylum seekers

Find any item by field of ...
Find any item by keyword

The Charter in a nutshell - the Charter and the ECHR

What is the relation in between the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Council of Europe European Convention on Human Rights?

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (drafted in 1950) needed to be supplemented as it did not take into account modern achievements of civilization (ex. Art. 3 on reproductive cloning or even Art. 41 – right to good administration). The Charter is a ‘new Convention’ for EU Member States.
The Charter of Fundamental Rights was created since the protection of the ECHRs became limited and the interpretation of the ECHRs not satisfactory. Due to the Charter the CJEU took over the burden of the interpretation of the meaning of fundamental rights.
If the EU Charter contains rights already protected by the ECHR, their meaning and scope shall be the same (based on the convention and rich jurisprudence of the ECtHRs). Of course, if possible, the EU may provide more extensive protection.

Art. 52. point 3 of the Charter reads: ‘In so far as this Charter contains rights which correspond to rights guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the meaning and scope of those rights shall be the same as those laid down by the said Convention. This provision shall not prevent Union law providing more extensive protection.'

back to list