51茶馆

Article 8(1) of the Convention gives a person the right to respect for

• their private and family lives
• their home, and
• their correspondence.

This is sometimes called a 鈥渞ight to privacy鈥�.

Privacy can extend to a person鈥檚 business activities and business premises.

For the purposes of the Human Rights Act 鈥渁 person鈥� includes companies, partnerships and other non-corporate organisations. These are sometimes referred to as 鈥渘on-human鈥� or 鈥渓egal persons鈥�. Human rights apply to 鈥渓egal persons鈥� through the individuals who are authorised to act on the behalf of the organisation.

Publication of a person鈥檚 name and details of their deliberate defaults interferes with a person鈥檚 right to privacy but Article 8(2) specifically envisages that there will be some circumstances when it is necessary to do so. It sets out the steps that must apply before such an intrusion is lawful.

To be lawful, an intrusion into a person鈥檚 private life must be

• in accordance with the law
• necessary in a democratic society in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the country.

You can find the full text of Article 8 in Schedule 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998. You can access this from the HRA intranet site.

CH190880 explains why FA09/S94 is a lawful intrusion into a person鈥檚 private life.