The European Court of Human Rights in its judgment of January 16, 2018 has condemned Spain in the “Case of Cuenca Zarazoso v. Spain” (Claim no. 23383/12) for not protecting a citizen of Valencia against the noise caused by licensed premises such as bars, pubs, discotheques and nightclubs in the neighbourhood of his home.
In 1997 the City Council of Valencia declared the area in which the applicant lived to be an “acoustically saturated zone”. However, the Court has stated that the measures taken by the City Council to reduce noise were insufficient for the effective protection of citizens’ rights.
The main argument put forward by the Government of Spain to win its case was the lack of proof that noise levels in the plaintiff’s home exceeded those permitted according to the bylaw. However, the European Court considers that it would be excessively formalistic in the present case to require the plaintiff to provide evidence regarding the noise he experienced in his apartment, since the municipal authorities had officially categorized the neighbourhood of his home as subject to high levels of noise.
In addition, the existence of a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the violation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the material damage suffered by the plaintiff was declared. Furthermore, it was also demonstrated that the municipal authority’s failure to act caused the plaintiff moral damage.
Therefore, the Court declared Spain guilty for violating Article 8 of the Convention, which guarantees that everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life and his home. Consequently, it condemned Spain to pay €7,000 compensation for the material and moral damages suffered, plus expenses and procedural costs.
