Europarådets pressekorrespondent i de nordiske lande
Arne Madsen
Bremerholm 6, 4., DK-1069 København K
Tlf. +45 33 14 15 84, Fax +45 33 15 54 84
E-mail: [email protected],Internet: www.coe.int
E-mail
Til: Redaktionen
Dato: 9. januar 2006. Antal sider (inkl. denne): 2
The European Court of Human Rights
Press release issued by the Registrar
FORTHCOMING GRAND CHAMBER JUDGMENT SØRENSEN & RASMUSSEN v.
DENMARK
The European Court of Human Rights will be holding a public hearing in the Human Rights Building,
Strasbourg, on Wednesday 11 January 2006 at 2.15 p.m. (local time) to deliver the Grand Chamber
judgment in the case of Sørensen & Rasmussen v. Denmark (application nos. 52562/99 and 52620/99).
The press release and the text of the judgment will be available after the hearing on the Court’s Internet site
(http://www.echr.coe.int).
Sørensen & Rasmussen v. Denmark
The case concerns whether the existence of closed shop agreements in Denmark is in compliance with the
right to freedom of association.
The applicants, both Danish nationals living in Denmark, are Morten Sørensen, who was born in 1975 and
lives in Aarhus, and Ove Rasmussen, who was born in 1959 and lives in Haderslev.
Sørensen – On 3 June 1999 Mr Sørensen, who wa s a student about to start at university, began working as a
holiday relief worker for the company FDB (FDB distributionen). He was dismissed three weeks later for
refusing to join the SID, although he was aware at the time of his employment that membership was a
condition of employment in the company. He brought proceedings in the High Court of Western Denmark
against FDB on the ground that Danish law did not comply with Article 11 (freedom of assembly and
association) of the European Convention on Human Rights. He was unsuccessful; on 18 November 1998 the
High Court did not find it established that there had been a violation of Article 11. This judgment was upheld
on appeal by the Supreme Court on 8 June 1999.
Rasmussen – Mr Rasmussen is a gardener. He wa s a member of a particular trade union (SID) in the mid-
80s. However, as he did not agree with its political affiliations, he resigned from the SID and became a
member of the Christian Trade Union. Subsequently, having been unemployed for a while, he was offered a
job with his present employer on the condition that he became a member of SID, with which the employer
had entered a closed shop agreement. Although he still disagreed with SID’s political views, on 17 May 1999
the applicant became a member and accordingly obtained the job.
The applicants complain of a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European
Convention on Human Rights.
On 25 November 2004 the Chamber dealing with the cases relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand
Chamber. The cases were joined in January 2005.
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