Newspapers – Image by Birgit Boellinger from Pixabay
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Council gave its green light Tuesday to a new law to protect journalists and people who speak out on matters of public interest from abusive lawsuits whose purpose is to silence them.
Under the new law, journalists and human rights defenders who are targeted by so-called strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) will benefit from a number of procedural safeguards and measures. The safeguards will apply to mostly unfounded claims or abusive court proceedings in civil matters with cross-border implications.
Journalists targeted by SLAPP cases can ask the court to dismiss a manifestly unfounded claim at the earliest possible stage. If proceedings are found to be abusive, the court can then decide that the claimant must bear the costs of the proceedings, including the costs of legal representation incurred by the SLAPP victim.
To ensure the defendant is compensated, the court can also order the claimant to provide a financial security for the costs of the proceedings and, if provided by national law, the damages suffered by the defendant. Courts must take the decision on the early dismissal of a case and on the provision of a financial security in an accelerated manner.
In order to discourage such abusive legal actions, the judge can also decide to subject the party who initiated the SLAPP case to penalties or other equally effective measures.
Under the directive, a SLAPP case will be considered to have cross-border implications unless both parties are domiciled in the same EU Member State as the court dealing with the matter and all other elements relevant to the situation concerned are located in that member state.
If a person living in the EU is targeted by a SLAPP case in a third-country, EU member states must refuse the recognition and enforcement of this third-country judgment if it is considered manifestly unfounded or abusive in the member state in question.
Member states have to put in place rules that would allow associations, organisations and trade unions to support the defendant or to provide information in the proceedings.
To further support SLAPP victims, member states will have to provide, in one single place, information on the procedural safeguards and remedies available to SLAPP victims.
The directive will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member states have two years thereafter to transpose the law into national legislation.
