BELGIAN LINGUISTIC CASE
Doc ref: 1474/62;1677/62;1691/62;1994/63;2126/64 • ECHR ID: 001-55398
Document date: October 3, 1972
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On 23 July 1968, the President of the European Court of Human Rights
transmitted to the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers the judgment
of the Court in the case "relating to certain aspects of the laws on
the use of language in education in Belgium" (the "Belgian linguistic
case"). In its judgment, the Court decided, by eight votes to seven,
on one of the six questions of which the Court was seized, that the
legislation concerned was not in conformity with the requirements of
the Convention. It decided that Section 7 (3) of the Act of
2 August 1963 does not comply with the requirement of Article 14 of
the Convention read in conjunction with the first sentence of
Article 2 of the First Protocol (art. 14+P1-2), insofar as it prevents
certain children, solely on the basis of the residence of their
parents, from having access to the French language schools existing in
the six communes on the periphery of Brussels invested with a special
status, of which Kraainem is one.
The judgment of the Court reserved for the applicants concerned the
right, should the occasion arise, to apply for just satisfaction in
regard to this particular point. In fact, no such application has
been made.
Article 54 (art. 54) of the European Convention on Human Rights
provides that:
"The judgment of the Court shall be transmitted to the Committee of
Ministers which shall supervise its execution."
This article (art. 54) comes immediately after Article 53 (art. 53)
which reads as follows:
"The High Contracting Parties undertake to abide by the decision of
the Court in any case to which they are parties."
In a memorandum of 12 April 1972, the Belgian Government informed the
Committee of Ministers that legislative measures have been introduced
in Belgium to remedy the violation of the European Convention on
Human Rights mentioned in the judgment delivered by the Court on
23 July 1968. The memorandum of the Belgian Government contains a
summary of the provisions relating to the revision of the Constitution
and the reform of national institutions.
The Committee of Ministers, in virtue of its obligations under
Article 54 (art. 54) of the European Convention on Human Rights, took
note of the measures taken by Belgium in accordance with Article 53
(art. 53), in the context of this constitutional reform which were
described in the memorandum submitted by the Belgian Government and
carried into effect in the new legislation introduced in Belgium.