An analysis of the legislative reform against SLAPP suits

Abstract

This is a piece of legal research regarding the protection of persons engaged in public participation within the European Union. The European Union’s awareness of the threats that journalists and other persons engaged in public participation encounter has increased over the years. “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression”, as depicted in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This freedom is recognised as a cornerstone of democracy. The European Commission has recently proposed a number of directives which strive to improve journalist protection. An interesting directive that the Commission has proposed includes protection from SLAPP suits. The term SLAPP refers to Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. These suits are a specific type of harassment that is mainly directed against journalists and advocates of human rights, in order to silence them for speaking up on matters of public concern. Apart from this Directive, the Commission also released a Recommendation that will be investigated in this paper. Another proposal is for a Regulation on the European Media Freedom Act. Malta’s parliament has also shown a willingness to legislate against SLAPP suits. Both the Opposition and the Government have pushed for anti- SLAPP legislation domestically. The proposed anti-SLAPP rule from the commission intends to offer protections at European level against the use of SLAPP suits. This dissertation will be examining the ramifications of the proposed anti SLAPP directive, the already published national proposals and while analysing their legal significance will consider whether the national proposals so far proposed reach the minimum European standard. Furthermore, other sources which aim to safeguard media freedom will also be looked into throughout this paper.