Multi-level Administration, Inspections and Fundamental Rights: Is Judicial Protection Full and Effective?

Abstract

AbstractIn the last decades, an increasing number of EU institutions and agencies have been given the power to conduct administrative inspections. While the legal literature has traditionally focused on the Commission’s inspection powers in competition proceedings, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) are also entrusted with such powers. The Commission has also been granted inspection powers in the field of Food Safety. Inspection powers can have a crucial impact on the fundamental right of the inviolability of the home, recognized by the Court of Justice as a general principle of EU law, and protected under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (ECFR). This Article argues that the current remedies do not fulfill all the criteria set forth by the Strasbourg Court for ex post judicial control vis-à vis inspections to be full and effective, in particular when these powers are used in the context of composite procedures, and suggests remedies to improve the system of review, in order to effectively protect fundamental rights.