The Commission Recommendation adopted on 27 April 2022 complements the Directive and encourages Member States to ensure that:
- National legal frameworks provide the necessary safeguards, similar to those at EU level, to address domestic cases of SLAPPs. This includes ensuring the procedural safeguards of an early dismissal of manifestly unfounded court proceedings. Member States would also need to ensure that their rules applicable to defamation, which is one of the most common grounds for launching SLAPPs, do not have an unjustified impact on the freedom of expression, on the existence of an open, free and plural media environment, and on public participation.
- Training is available for legal professionals and potential SLAPP targets to improve their knowledge and skills to effectively deal with these court proceedings. The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) will be involved to ensure coordination and that information is disseminated in all Member States;
- Awareness raising and information campaigns are organised, so that journalists and human rights defenders do recognize when they are facing a SLAPP;
- Targets of SLAPP have access to individual and independent support, such as from law firms that defend SLAPP targets pro bono;
- Aggregated data collected at national level on manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings against public participation is reported to the Commission on a yearly basis, starting as of 2023.
Here the text of the Recommendation.
Tags: SLAPP