More businesses look to Human Rights Act for protection

Statistics released by Thomson Reuters suggest UK court cases using arguments based on the Human Rights Act (HRA) has risen almost 10 per cent.

In 2013/2014, 428 cases were heard compared to 410 during 2012/2013. The rise comes as the Conservative government considers the introduction of a British Bill of Rights which would replace the Human Rights Act.

Thomson Reuters says that despite the rise, the figure still sits well below the peak in 2001/2, when human rights arguments were used in 714 reported cases.

The overall rise in cases using the HRA has been driven in part by its increased use in commercial cases. Some 46 business cases cited the Act in the last year, up from 41 the year before. It was also cited in nine tax-related cases, up from eight the year before.

Commercial cases that use human rights arguments are frequently based on right to 'the peaceful enjoyment of… possessions' and the 'right to a fair trial'.

The effect of the credit crunch has seen HMRC invest in greater resources for compliance and tax investigations leading to bigger penalties and early payments being issued which has resulted in more litigation with taxpayers using Human Rights arguments.

Tom Hickman, a barrister at Blackstone Chambers, believes more businesses are seeing the benefits in using the HRA to protect their assets.

'Whilst the Human Rights Act is most commonly associated with criminal and immigration cases it has also developed into an important tool for protecting the rights of businesses.'It has proved particularly important when it comes to challenging over-reaching decisions taken by regulatory bodies,' he said.

'Similarly as HMRC increases its powers and imposes harsher penalties, many see the Human Rights Act as an important safeguard for taxpayers- especially when the sums of money at stake can be very substantial.'

With the legal profession currently considering the impact of a new British Bill of Rights, Hickman believes clarity is needed as soon as possible to ascertain whether the new Bill 'will extend beyond matters of criminal process and freedom of expression to take into account the rights of businesses and of taxpayers'.

'Party leaders have spoken about halting the "mission creep" of human rights law into new areas, saying that the Bill of Rights will allow trivial cases to be struck out,' he added. 'Defining what is and isn't trivial, however, is likely to be far from straightforward.

'It may be the case that businesses find it more difficult to call upon human rights arguments in the future.'

Matthew Rogers is an editorial assistant at Solicitors Journal matthew.rogers@solicitorsjournal.co.uk