Protection of journalists and human rights defenders from unfounded or abusive court proceedings

KEY POINTS

Member States’ legal frameworks should:

• contain safeguards, including for domestic cases, against manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings;
• allow for the early dismissal of SLAPPs and for legal remedies such as imposing costs and penalties on initiators of the legal action;
• have defamation rules that are clear, do not impact unfairly on freedom of expression and do not carry excessive and disproportionate penalties;
• reconcile the right to protection of personal data with the right to freedom of expression and information.

Training guidelines advise the following.

• Member States should:
  • support lawyers, judicial staff and potential targets of SLAPPs in developing expertise in identifying SLAPPs and acting appropriately;
  • encourage legal associations and legal training providers to offer training on how to deal with SLAPPs, and legal professionals’ self-regulatory bodies to align their behavioural rules with the recommendation;
  • consider including training on SLAPPs in freedom of expression and legal ethics training;
  • encourage higher education institutions to include ways of identifying SLAPPs in their curricula, especially for law and journalism degrees.
• Training should cover:
  • the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Convention of Human Rights and practical guidance on European and national case-law;
  • procedural safeguards against SLAPPs and relevant applicable law;
  • the obligation to reconcile protection of personal data with freedom of expression and information;
  • measures to strengthen the ability of journalists, other media professionals and human rights defenders to deal with SLAPPs;
  • ethical standards and guidelines set out by national press or media councils;
  • testimonials from those subjected to SLAPPs and input from the EU expert group against SLAPP.

Awareness-raising initiatives include:

• support to national human rights and civil society organisations running information campaigns on SLAPPs;
• explanations of SLAPPs in simple language;
• information on support structures and clear lines of defence against SLAPPs;
• campaigns against negative attitudes, stereotypes and prejudices;
• better understanding of the nature, extent and impact of SLAPPs among the media, legal professionals, civil society, academics, think tanks, communication professionals, civil servants, politicians, public authorities and private companies.

Support mechanism guidelines encourage Member States to:

• ensure targets and defendants of SLAPPs have access to individual and independent support and legal assistance;
• establish a focal point to gather and share information on the organisations providing those services;
• use national and EU funding to make sure those organisations have sufficient resources to react quickly against SLAPPs;
• facilitate the exchange of information and best practice between the organisations.

Data collection, reporting and monitoring guidance

• The guidance asks Member States to designate one or more authorities to collect data on SLAPPs, provide the national aggregated data to the European Commission annually starting by the end of 2023 and publish the information on their website.
• It also asks the EU expert group against SLAPP to support the development and best use of data collection standards and templates where necessary.
• The data should include details from the number and length of SLAPP proceedings to classification of defendants, such as journalists or human rights defenders, and plaintiffs, whether they be politicians, companies or a foreign entity.

The recommendation:

• urges Member States to make full use of EU funding available, in particular under the citizens, equality, rights and values programme and the justice programme;
• asks Member States to report to the Commission by the end of 2023, and thereafter on request, on the implementation of the recommendation;
• states that, no later than 5 years after the adoption of the recommendation, the Commission will assess its impact and determine whether further measures are required.

Background

• The aim of SLAPPs is not to access justice, but to harass, intimidate and silence defendants with the length of procedures, financial pressure and the threat of criminal sanctions. They also place unnecessary burdens on courts.
• For further information, see:
  • Recommendation on the protection, safety and empowerment of journalists (European Commission).