| Applicant name | RUSTAMKHANLI |
| Applicant type | natural person/legal person |
| Number of applicants | 1 |
| Country | AZERBAIJAN |
| Application no. | 24460/16 |
| Date | 04/07/2024 |
| Judges | Marko Bošnjak, President, Alena Poláčková, Krzysztof Wojtyczek, Lətif Hüseynov, Gilberto Felici, Erik Wennerström, Raffaele Sabato |
| Institution | Court |
| Type | Judgment |
| Outcome Art. 8 | violation |
| Reason | not in accordance with law |
| Type of privacy | Locational privacy |
| Keywords | Entry business premises |
| Facts of the case | The application concerns the conduct of an unannounced on-site tax audit and the freezing of the bank accounts of the Qanun Magazine Editorial Office by the tax authority. The applicant raises various complaints under Articles 6 and 8 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention. |
| Analysis | The Court is not satisfied that there were adequate and effective safeguards against unfettered discretion in practice. As regards the provisions of the domestic law, the Court notes that while it did limit the seizure of documents and items to those necessary for the calculation of taxes, providing that it is forbidden to seize documents and items which are not necessary for the calculation of taxes during an on-site tax audit, the tax authority failed to comply with those provisions. In particular the Court notes that the tax authority disregarded those provisions in that they seized numerous documents and items during the search without making any distinction between the documents and items as to whether they were necessary for the calculation of taxes. |
| Other Article violation? | Violation p1-1; not necessary to look at 6 ECHR |
| Damage awarded | hat the respondent State is to pay the applicant, within three months from the date on which the judgment becomes final in accordance with Article 44 § 2 of the Convention, the following amounts, to be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable at the date of settlement: (i) EUR 12,000 (twelve thousand euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable, in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage; (ii) EUR 1,500 (one thousand five hundred euros), plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicant, in respect of costs and expenses; |
| Documents | Judgment |