Information Note on the Court’s case-law 35

October 2001

Pichon and Sajous v. France (dec.) - 49853/99

Decision 2.10.2001 [Section III]

Article 9

Article 9-1

Manifest religion or belief

Conviction of pharmacists for refusing, on religious grounds, to sell the contraceptive pill: inadmissible

The applicants, who are both pharmacists, refused to dispense lawfully prescribed contraceptive products to three women o n the same occasion. They were found guilty of refusing to sell medically prescribed contraceptive products. The Police Court held that ethical or religious principles could not serve as a valid reason for refusing to sell a contraceptive product. The Cour t of Appeal upheld the decision on an appeal by the applicants, holding that the grounds for the applicants’ refusal had related not to the fact that they were physically unable to meet their customers’ requests because the pharmacy did not stock the produ ct in question, but rather to their religious beliefs, which, under the applicable legislation, could not serve as a valid reason for refusing to sell a product. The applicants appealed on points of law, relying on Article 9 of the Convention, which, they argued, guaranteed their freedom to manifest their religion. They inferred from that provision that pharmacists were entitled not to stock contraceptive products whose use ran counter to their religious beliefs. The Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal.

Inadmissible under Article 9 of the Convention: the contraceptive pill was legally available for sale and, by law, could only be sold on prescription in pharmacies; accordingly, the applicants could not rely on their religious beliefs or impose them on ot hers to justify refusing to sell that product, and there were many ways in which they could manifest their beliefs outside the professional sphere: manifestly ill-founded.

© Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry doe s not bind the Court.

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