French Vaccine Pass to the Test of the Constitutional Council: Some Considerations in the Light of the European Convention on Human Rights

On 21 January 2022 the French Constitutional Council issued a ruling on the constitutionality of the law which aimed to make the access to a very large number of places subject to a vaccine pass. Firstly, the essay illustrates the main points of the ruling with a particular focus on the legal criteria which constituted the parameters used by the French Constitutional Council, including a short explanation of the legal provisions rejected. The article then analyses the most recent judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) which regarded mandatory vaccinations. Specifically, the judgment focuses on the recent case Vavři¹ka and Others v. the Czech Republic which explained the main criteria adopted by ECtHR on health policies matters. Finally, the essay analyses whether including a vaccine pass under Art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is appropriate and concludes suggesting the most suitable norm to include a vaccine pass on a generalised scale under the ECHR, namely Art. 15 of the ECHR.