Ever since in 1996 Ukraine adopted Constitution and in 1997 joined the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) the issue of the protection of human rights became one of the most topical themes of legal theory and practice. That became even more so when the Law of Ukraine ''On Enforcement and Application of the Judgements of the European Court of Human Rights'' declared the judgements of the European Court sources of the Ukrainian law.

Despite the widely held opinion that the human rights are of little use for business community, these remedies and practice may prove to be highly effective mechanism for protection of business interest against unlawful or unreasonable interference of public authorities. In particular, human rights remedies are irreplaceable in protection of assets against direct or creeping expropriation by the State and unreasonable regulation of the business activity (Article 1 of Protocol 1 ECHR), unfair trial (Article 6 ECHR), freedom of speech of media companies (Article 10 ECHR), etc.

Another widely disseminated misbelief that the human rights me belong only to individuals is completely wrong: Article 1 of Protocol 1 ECHR directly provides that the right to property guaranteed both to physical and legal persons; other rights such as right to fair trial, freedom of expression, freedom of association and others also are enjoyed by legal entities. This is proved by a number of important judgements of the European Court adopted in the business field, such as Sovtransavto Holding v. Ukraine; Intrsplav v. Ukraine; MPP Golub v. Ukraine and others.

AstapovLawyers' lawyers have vast experience of representation of business entities and individuals in European Court of Human Rights as well as before the Ukrainian court in human rights matters.