Czechia/Supreme Administrative Court/2 As 94/2020-23/ECLI:CZ:NSS:2023:2.As.94.2020.23

Country

Czechia

Title

Czechia/Supreme Administrative Court/2 As 94/2020-23/ECLI:CZ:NSS:2023:2.As.94.2020.23

View full case

Year

2023

Decision/ruling/judgment date

Friday, February 24, 2023

Incident(s) concerned/related

Discrimination

Related Bias motivation

Racial or ethnic origin

Groups affected

Muslims

Court/Body type

National Court

Court/Body

Supreme Administrative Court (Nejvyšší správní soud)

Key facts of the case

The restaurant (the plaintiff) filed a lawsuit first with the Regional Court in Brno and then with the Supreme Administrative Court, seeking to annul the decision of the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (the defendant). By that decision, the Inspectorate (the defendant) imposed a fine of CZK 60,000 and an obligation to pay the costs of CZK 1,000 on the restaurant (the plaintiff) for discriminating against consumers, which it committed by placing on its Facebook site on 1 September 2016 the following text: 'We do not cook for immigrants in our restaurant!! STOPISLAM."

Main reasoning/argumentation

The plaintiff argues that the imposed fine is a disproportionate sanction for expressing their personal political opinion. The defendant, on the contrary, states that a restaurant has duties stemming from the public law on customer protection, and their acts of speech must be assessed more strictly than in relation between two individuals.

Is the case related to the application of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia, the Racial Equality Directive?

Key issues (concepts, interpretations) clarified by the case

The case concerns the limits of freedom of expression of service providers in relation to (potential customers) and an assessment whether a written statement "We are not cooking for immigrants" constitutes discrimination in access to services.

Results (sanctions, outcome) and key consequences or implications of the case

The Supreme Administrative Court confirmed the decision of a lower court which found that the imposed a fine of approximately EUR 2 525 (CZK 60 000) was in compliance with the law.

Key quotation in original language and its unofficial translation into English with reference details

„Deklaruje-li provozovatel restaurace na svých webových stránkách, že některé skupiny zákazníků neobslouží ve stejném rozsahu, a to na základě jejich původu („imigrantům nevaříme“), případně na základě náboženství („STOPISLAM“), případně na základě kombinace obou rozlišovacích důvodů, diskriminuje spotřebitele, jelikož svého ústavně zaručeného práva na svobodu politického projevu (čl. 17 Listiny základních práv a svobod) využívá v rozporu se zákonem.“ „If a restaurant owner declares on their website that they do not serve certain groups of customers to the same extent on the basis of their origin ("we do not cook for immigrants"), or on the basis of religion ("STOPISLAM"), or on the basis of a combination of both discriminatory grounds, they discriminate against consumers, since they are exercising their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of political expression (Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms) in violation of the law.“

DISCLAIMERThe information presented here is collected under contract by the FRA's research network FRANET. The information and views contained do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA.