Whether legal entities may assert the prohibition against self-incrimination under ECHR
Supreme Court order of 1 June 2011, HR-2011-01118-A, (case no. 2011/456), criminal case, appeal against order.
Petrolia ASA and others (Counsel Arild Dommersnes) v. The public prosecution authority (Public prosecutor Tor Henning Knudsen)
Justices: Møse, Bull, Normann, Utgård, Schei
The case concerned an order made against a number of corporations to disclose evidence pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Act section 210. The main question before the Supreme Court was whether the prohibition against self-incrimination in the ECHR also applies to legal entities. After reviewing the case law of the ECHR and the European Court of Justice, the Supreme Court held that corporations are protected by the self-incrimination rule unless there is a legal basis for making an exception. There was no such legal basis in the present case. The protection against self-incrimination applied whether the corporations were registered in Norway or abroad, see ECHR Article 8 The Supreme Court found that the rule against self-incrimination in section 123 of the Criminal Procedure Act must be interpreted in the same way as ECHR Article 6 (1) so that the safeguards in the provision also apply to corporations. The Supreme Court set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the grounds that it was based on an erroneous interpretation of the law and also contained several procedural errors.