Religion – Weltanschauung – Recht [ RWR ]

The applicants are various religious communities, some of their ministers and some of their members. Prior to the adoption of a new Church Act, which entered into force in January 2012, the religious communities were registered as churches in Hungary and received State funding. Under the new law only a number of recognised churches continued to receive funding. All other religious communities, including the applicants, lost their status as churches but were free to continue their religious activities as associations. Following a decision of the Constitutional Court, which found certain provisions of the new Church Act unconstitutional, religious communities such as the applicants could continue to function and to refer to themselves as churches. However, the law continued to apply in so far as it required the communities to apply to Parliament to be registered as incorporated churches if they wished to regain access to the monetary and fiscal advantages they had previously enjoyed.

Relying on Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) read in the light of Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience, and religion) of the Convention, the applicants complain of their deregistration under the new law and of the discretionary reregistration of churches. They also rely on Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) read in conjunction with Article 9 and Article 11, complaining that they were discriminated against on account of their status as religious minorities. Furthermore, they rely on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) read alone and in conjunction with Article 14, complaining about the loss of State subsidies as they no longer had fully-fledged church status. Finally, they rely on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy), alleging that the procedure of deregistration and reregistration was unfair and that they had no effective remedies in respect of the legislation.

Press release ECHR 089 (2014) 02/04/2014