CASE OF COSTEL POPA v. ROMANIA
Violation of Article 11 - Freedom of assembly and association (Article 11-1 - Freedom of association)
András Sajó;Egidijus Kūris;Krzysztof Wojtyczek;Nona Tsotsoria;Gabriele Kucsko-Stadlmayer
5. The applicant was born in 1977 and lives in Bucharest. 6. On 11 October 2009 the EcoPolis association, founded by the applicant and four other associates, opened proceedings before the Bucharest District Court to seek registration in the Register of Associations and Foundations kept by that court. It also asked the court to grant it legal personality. 7. The association’s goal, as declared in its memorandum of association (act constitutiv) and in Article 2 of its articles of association (statutul asociației), was that of promoting the principles of sustainable development at the public policy level in Romania (promovarea principiilor dezvoltării durabile la nivelul politicilor publice din România). The association’s objectives, as declared in Article 7 of its articles of association, were: to increase expertise in the development of sustainable public policies in Romania (creşterea expertizei ȋn elaborarea politicilor publice durabile din România); to improve the process of the development of sustainable public policies by facilitating public participation in and access to relevant information about the environment; to increase the accountability of the relevant official bodies by scrutinising the implementation of public policies with an impact on the environment; to facilitate the access of official bodies to best practices by examining the Government’s environmental initiatives in a European context; to ensure transparency in the work of public institutions and increase their responsibility for their actions in relation to other citizens; to review whether public institutions worked on the basis of principles of sustainability; and to defend the right to a clean environment, as provided by international treaties. The activities envisaged by the association in order to achieve its objectives, as declared in Article 8 of its articles of association, were: research and analysis; public debates and conferences; monitoring the implementation of European Union directives; public communication campaigns; opinion polls; reviewing the development and implementation of public policies in the environmental field; training; raising citizens’ awareness; informing people of matters of public concern; raising the awareness of the community and of public authorities about the need to protect the environment; organising meetings between citizens and representatives of public authorities; organising debates and opinion polls on issues impacting the environment; developing programmes in partnership with public authorities; active involvement of citizens in the development of public policies and the decision-making process; improving the legal framework; setting up annual prizes for environmental activities; awarding scholarships for promoting sustainable development; networking with similar national and international organisations; supporting and defending the association’s members and volunteers; and other lawful activities. 8. By an interlocutory judgment of 24 October 2009, delivered in private, the Bucharest District Court granted the association legal personality and ordered its registration in the Register of Associations and Foundations. The court held that the organisation had attached all the lawfully required documents to the application for registration and that the documents had complied both in form and content with the requirements set out by Government Ordinance no. 26/2000. Moreover, the goal set by the association complied with the provisions of Articles 1 and 4 of that Ordinance. 9. The Bucharest Public Prosecutor’s Office lodged an appeal on points of law (recurs) against the interlocutory judgment of 24 October 2009. It argued that it interpreted the association’s declared goal as belonging to the field of activities of a political party. That interpretation was supported by the association’s objectives and by the activities it planned, as set out in Articles 7 and 8 of the articles of association. However, a political party could not be registered under the provisions of Government Ordinance no. 26/2000. 10. By a final judgment of 10 February 2010 the Bucharest County Court allowed the appeal on points of law by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and rejected the organisation’s request for registration. It held that the goal of the association, as declared in its memorandum and articles of association, was that of promoting the principles of sustainable development at the public policy level in Romania. Also, according to Article 7 of its articles of association, one of the association’s objectives was to increase expertise in the development of sustainable public policies in Romania. The court considered that the concepts used by the organisation had been very general and had run the risk of being understood as belonging to the field of activities of political parties. The association’s objectives could likewise have been interpreted as belonging to the realm of activity of a political party, although Government Ordinance no. 26/2000 expressly prohibited the use of the ordinance for the registration of political parties.