Human Rights
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Abstract
The effect of the disciplinary sanctions in question was to divest the applicants temporarily (A) or permanently (C) of their civil right, within the meaning of Article 6(1), to practise medicine, which they had duly acquired and which allowed them to pursue the goals of their professional life. The right to continue to practise constituted, in the case of the applicants, a private right and thus a civil right within the meaning of Article 6(1), notwithstanding the specific character of the medical profession—a profession that is exercised in the general interest—and the special duties incumbent on its members. In many member states of the Council of Europe, the duty of adjudicating on disciplinary offences is conferred on jurisdictional organs of professional associations. Even in instances in which Article 6(1) is applicable, conferring powers in this manner does not in itself infringe the Convention.