BackThe European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recognizes that the right to respect for private and family life, protected by article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), also extends, albeit to a lesser extent, to the company home and business premises. In this context, it considers that house searches carried out by the tax authorities constitute an interference with this right, which will only be legitimate if it pursues a public interest purpose and is provided for in an accessible and foreseeable law.
The Court emphasizes that the law must provide guarantees against arbitrary interference and limit the discretion of the administration, clearly establishing the scope and conditions of home access. In order to assess compliance, the ECtHR has analyzed in its case law whether searches are subject to judicial authorization based on reasonable suspicion (Wieser and Bicos BeteiligungenGmbH v. Austria; Delta Pekárny a.s. v. Czech Republic; Naumenko and SIA Rix Shipping v. Latvia), whether their scope is limited to a reasonable suspicion, and whether they can be carried out without any judicial authorisation. Latvia), whether their scope is limited (Delta Pekárny a.s. v. Czech Republic; Naumenko and SIA Rix Shipping v. Latvia), whether they detail the evidence sought (Delta Pekárny a.s. v. Czech Republic) and whether the legislation restricts the seizable information (UAB Kesko Senukai Lithuania v. Lithuania).
In the case of the Italian legislation, the Court concludes that these requirements are not met, thus finding a violation of article 8 of the ECHR.
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