Monitoring, governmental data access and the invocation of Article 8 ECHR by legal persons

Abstract

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) grants the rights enshrined in Article 8 to ‘everyone’. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has interpreted legal persons as falling within the scope of ‘everyone’ in various judgments, primarily concerning governmental searches and seizures. With the rise of digital technology, corporations now hold vast amounts of personal data, creating growing pressure to disclose such data to governmental surveillance agencies. This article examines ECtHR case law and applies theories of legal personality to assess the extent to which legal persons may invoke Article 8 in cases of governmental interferences affecting associated natural persons' rights. After outlining the legal framework, the article applies it to two use cases: governmental control of fishing vessels to identify regulatory infringements and signal intelligence practices affecting legal persons operating telecommunication infrastructure. These examples illustrate two types of governmental interference; methods impacting natural persons through data held by legal persons and interferences directed at the legal person itself. The article seeks to clarify the scope of rights under Article 8 for legal persons. The question of whether such interferences are proportionate is beyond the article's scope and remains a topic for future research.