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Constitutional law – Foreign sovereign state. The appeals concerned whether a member of the service staff of a foreign diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom could bring proceedings in the UK against the employer state to assert employment rights or whether such a claim was barred by state immunity. In particular, whether provisions of the State Immunity Act 1978 (the SIA) were compatible with art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and art 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the EU Charter). The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held, inter alia, that, on the application to the claimants' claims: (i) s 16(1)(a) of the SIA infringed art 6 of the Convention; (ii) s 4(2)(b) of the SIA infringed arts 6 and 14 of the Convention; and (iii) ss 4(2)(b) and 16(1)(a) of the SIA, in their application to those parts of the claims which fell within the scope of EU law, infringed art 47 of the EU Charter.
Constitutional law – Foreign sovereign state. The appeals concerned whether a member of the service staff of a foreign diplomatic mission to the United Kingdom could bring proceedings in the UK against the employer state to assert employment rights or whether such a claim was barred by state immunity. In particular, whether provisions of the State Immunity Act 1978 (the SIA) were compatible with art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and art 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (the EU Charter). The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held, inter alia, that, on the application to the claimants' claims: (i) s 16(1)(a) of the SIA infringed art 6 of the Convention; (ii) s 4(2)(b) of the SIA infringed arts 6 and 14 of the Convention; and (iii) ss 4(2)(b) and 16(1)(a) of the SIA, in their application to those parts of the claims which fell within the scope of EU law, infringed art 47 of the EU Charter.
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