''Animal Defenders International v United Kingdom''

013 013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands. There are two concer ...

ECHR 362 is

United Kingdom constitutional law The United Kingdom constitutional law concerns the governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With the oldest continuous political system on Earth, the British constitution is not contained in a single code but princ ...

and a UK,

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

and

international human rights International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

case, on political spending at elections. It held that the United Kingdom's ban on spending money on political advertising, under the

Communications Act 2003 The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. It ...

section 321(2), was fully compatible with freedom of expression under the

ECHR article 10 Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides the right to Freedom of Expression and Information. A fundamental aspect of this right is the freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart information and ideas, even if the receive ...

. While reflecting most of the election laws in the democratic world, the case stands in heavy contrast to ''

Buckley v. Valeo ''Buckley v. Valeo'', 424 U.S. 1 (1976), was a landmark decision of the US Supreme Court on campaign finance. A majority of justices held that, as provided by section 608 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, limits on election expenditure ...

'' and ''

Citizens United v. FEC ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It wa ...

'', as decided by majorities of the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

, as well as ''

Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth ''Australian Capital Television v Commonwealth'',. is a decision of the High Court of Australia. The case is notable in Australian Constitutional Law as one of the first cases within Australia's implied freedom of political communication jur ...

'' as decided by the majority of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

Facts

The UK's

section 321(2) bans political and industrial dispute related adverts.

Animal Defenders International Animal Defenders International (ADI), founded 1990, has offices in US, UK, Colombia, Peru and South Africa; education and public awareness campaigns to protect animals in captivity and wild animals and their environments. ADI 's campaigns focus on ...

had an advertisement, not offensive, which was themed 'My Mate's a Primate'. The

Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre The Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC) was a non-governmental organisation which until the end of 2007 pre-approved most British television advertising. The work of the BACC has been taken over by Clearcast. BACC approval was applied bo ...

refused to let it show because it was deemed to fall within the prohibition on political advertising. They said this breached their

right to freedom of expression.

Judgment

House of Lords

The House of Lords held unanimously that there was no breach of ECHR article 10, because the Communications Act 2003 was designed to level the playing field of expression, and therefore empower everyone's freedom of expression to the utmost. Giving the leading judgment,

Lord Bingham Sir Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, (13 October 193311 September 2010), was an eminent British judge who was successively Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law Lord. He was described as the greatest lawyer of ...

said the only issue (not interference, not legitimate aim pursued) was whether the restriction was '

necessary in a democratic society __NOTOC__ "Necessary in a democratic society" is a test found in Articles 8–11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides that the state may impose restrictions of these rights only if such restrictions are "necessary in a democra ...

'. If views are debated then truth prevails over time, and the law was to ensure equality of debate. If parties can buy coverage proportionate to their resources, this would distort. The case of '' VgT Verein gegen Tierfabriken v Switzerland''(2002) 34 EHRR 4 was considered, but found to be inapplicable to the British context, where the full strength of arguments against money in politics was considered. Lord Scott, while concurring with the result, dissented on one point at paragraph 44, by suggesting that ECHR cases were not actually binding on the UK courts.

Baroness Hale Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, (born 31 January 1945) is a British judge who served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 until her retirement in 2020, and serves as a member of the House of Lords ...

gave a concurring judgment. Lord Carswell and

Lord Neuberger David Edmond Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury (; born 10 January 1948) is an English judge. He served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2017. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until the House of Lo ...

concurred with Lord Bingham.

European Court of Human Rights

By a bare majority (9:8), the European Court of Human Rights held the ban on political advertising under the

section 321(2) was fully compatible with

. The majority reasoned as follows. In various dissents, a minority of the court, while stressing that money should never buy elections, objected to a total ban on spending.

Notes

{{reflist Human rights case law United Kingdom constitutional case law

Facts

Judgment

House of Lords

European Court of Human Rights

See also

Notes