CEDH · CASELAW;JUDGMENTS;CHAMBER;ENG — 21 juillet 2015

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FINLAND   (Application no. 931/13)             JUDGMENT       STRASBOURG   21 July 2015     THIS CASE WAS REFERRED TO THE GRAND CHAMBER WHICH DELIVERED JUDGMENT IN THE CASE ON 27/06/2017   This judgment may be subject to editorial revision. In the case of Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy v.   Finland, The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:   Guido Raimondi, President,   Päivi Hirvelä,   George Nicolaou,   Nona Tsotsoria,   Krzysztof Wojtyczek,   Faris Vehabović,   Yonko Grozev, judges, and Fatoş Aracı, Deputy Section Registrar, Having deliberated in private on 23 June 2015, Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date: PROCEDURE 1.     The case originated in an application (no. 931/13) against the Republic of Finland lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by two Finnish limited liability companies, Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy (“the applicant companies”), on 18   December 2012. 2.     The applicant companies were represented by Mr Pekka Vainio, a lawyer practising in Turku. The Finnish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent, Mr Arto Kosonen of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 3.     The applicant companies alleged, in particular, that their right to freedom of expression had been violated, that the length of the proceedings had been excessive, and that they had been discriminated against vis-à-vis other newspapers. 4.     On 16 October 2013 the application was communicated to the Government. THE FACTS I.     THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE 5.     The applicant companies have their seat in Kokemäki. 6.     The first applicant company Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy has been publishing Veropörssi magazine since 1994. The magazine publishes yearly information about natural persons’ taxable income and assets. This information is public according to Finnish law. Several other publications and media companies also publish such information. The editor-in-chief of the magazine lodged an application with the Court in 2010 (see Anttila v.   Finland (dec.), no. 16248/10, 19 November 2013). 7.     In 2002 the magazine appeared 17 times and each issue concentrated on a certain geographical area of the country. Data on 1.2 million persons’ taxable income and assets was published, which constituted at the time a third of all taxable persons in Finland. The magazine also published tax ‑ related articles and announcements. 8.     The first applicant company Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy has worked in cooperation with the second applicant company, Satamedia Oy . The companies are owned by the same persons. In 2003 the second applicant company, together with a telephone operator, started an SMS ‑ service. By sending a person’s name to a service number, taxation information concerning that person could be obtained if information was available in the database. The database was created using data already published in the magazine. Since 2006 the second applicant company has also been publishing Veropörssi magazine. 9.     On an unspecified date the Data Protection Ombudsman ( tietosuojavaltuutettu, dataombudsmannen ) contacted the applicant companies and advised them to stop publishing taxation data in the manner and to the extent that had been the case in 2002. Collecting data which was not to be published was not forbidden. The companies declined because they felt that this request violated their freedom of expression. 10.     By letter dated 10 April 2003 the Data Protection Ombudsman requested the Data Protection Board ( tietosuojalautakunta, datasekretessnämnden ) to order that the applicant companies be forbidden to process taxation data in the manner and to the extent that had been the case in 2002 and to pass such data to an SMS-service. He claimed that, under the Personal Data Act, the companies had no right to establish such personal data registers and that the derogation provided by the Act concerning journalism did not apply to the present case. The collecting of taxation information and the passing of such information to third parties was not journalism but processing of personal data which the applicant companies had had no right to do. 11.     On 7 January 2004 the Data Protection Board dismissed the request of the Data Protection Ombudsman. It found that the derogation provided by the Personal Data Act concerning journalism applied to the present case. As concerned the SMS-service, the data used in the service had already been published in Veropörssi magazine and the Act did not therefore apply to it. 12.     By letter dated 12 February 2004 the Data Protection Ombudsman appealed to the Helsinki Administrative Court ( hallinto-oikeus, förvaltningsdomstolen ), reiterating his request that the applicant companies be forbidden to process taxation information in the manner and to the extent that had been the case in 2002 and to pass such data to the SMS-service. 13.     On 29 September 2005 the Administrative Court rejected the appeal. It found that the derogation provided by the Personal Data Act concerning journalism, which had its origins in Directive 95/46/EC, should not be interpreted too strictly as it would then favour protection of privacy over freedom of expression. The court considered that Veropörssi magazine had a journalistic purpose and that it was also in the public interest to publish such data. The court emphasised, in particular, that the published data was public. The derogation provided by the Personal Data Act concerning journalism thus applied to the present case. As concerned the SMS-service, the court agreed with the Data Protection Board that, as the information had already been published in the magazine, the Act did not apply to it. 14.     By letter dated 26 October 2005 the Data Protection Ombudsman appealed further to the Supreme Administrative Court ( korkein hallinto-oikeus, högsta förvaltningsdomstolen ), reiterating the grounds of appeal already presented before the Administrative Court. 15.     On 8 February 2007 the Supreme Administrative Court decided to request a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union on the interpretation of Directive 95/46/EC. 16.     On 16 December 2008 the Court of Justice of the European Union, sitting in a Grand Chamber composition, gave its judgment (see Case C ‑ 3/07 Tietosuojavaltuutettu v. Satakunnan Markkinapörssi Oy and Satamedia Oy , judgment of 16 December 2008 (Grand Chamber)). It found first of all that the activities in question constituted “processing of personal data” to which the Directive applied. Moreover, activities involving the processing of personal data such as that relating to personal data files which contained solely, and in unaltered form, material that had already been published in the media, also fell within the scope of the Directive. In order to take account of the importance of the right to freedom of expression in every democratic society, it was necessary to interpret notions relating to that freedom, such as journalism, broadly. However, in order to achieve a balance between the two fundamental rights, the protection of the fundamental right to privacy required that the derogations and limitations in relation to the protection of data provided for in the Directive had to apply only in so far as was strictly necessary. In conclusion, activities such as those involved in the domestic proceedings, relating to data from documents which were in the public domain under national legislation, could be classified as “journalistic activities” if their object was to disclose to the public information, opinions or ideas, irrespective of the medium which was used to transmit them. They were not limited to media undertakings and could be undertaken for profit ‑ making purposes. 17.     On 23 September 2009 the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the previous decisions and referred the case back to the Data Protection Board. It requested the Board to forbid the processing of taxation data in the manner and to the extent carried out in 2002. The court noted first that the term “journalism” was not defined in Directive 95/46/EC but that, according to the Court of Justice of the European Union, it was necessary to interpret notions relating to freedom of expression, such as journalism, broadly. However, when balanced against the right to privacy, any derogations to the latter were to be kept only to what was strictly necessary. When balancing the right to freedom of expression against the right to privacy, the Court had found that the decisive factor was to assess whether a publication contributed to a public debate or was solely intended to satisfy the curiosity of readers. The Supreme Administrative Court found that the publication of the whole database collected for journalistic purposes could not be regarded as journalistic activity. The public interest did not require such publication of personal data to the extent seen in the present case, in particular as the derogation in the Personal Data Act was to be interpreted strictly. The same applied also to the SMS-service. 18.     The SMS-service was shut down after the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court was served on the applicant companies. The magazine continued publishing taxation data in autumn 2009 when its content was only one fifth of the previous content. Since then the magazine has not appeared. 19.     On 26 November 2009 the Data Protection Board forbade the first applicant company to process taxation data in the manner and to the extent that had been the case in 2002 and to forward this information to an SMS ‑ service. The second applicant company was forbidden to collect, save or forward to an SMS-service any information received from the first applicant company’s registers and published in Veropörssi magazine. 20.     By letter dated 15 December 2009, after the Data Protection Board had made its decision, the Data Protection Ombudsman asked the applicant companies to indicate what measure they were envisaging to take in view of the Board’s decision. In their reply, the applicant companies asked the Data Protection Ombudsman’s view on the conditions under which they could continue publishing public taxation data at least to a certain extent. In his reply the Data Protection Ombudsman stated that, according to the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision, the applicant companies lacked the legal right to maintain their taxation database and to publish it, and reminded them of his duty to report any breach of the Personal Data Act to the police. 21.     By letter dated 9 February 2010 the applicant companies appealed against the decision of the Data Protection Board to the Helsinki Administrative Court which transferred the case to the Turku Administrative Court. They complained that the decision violated the prohibition of censorship guaranteed by the Constitution as well as their freedom of expression. The Finnish Constitution provided better protection than the international human rights treaties as the latter did not prohibit censorship fully. According to the domestic law, it was not possible to prevent publication of information on the basis of the amount of information to be published or of the means used for its publication. Nor was it possible to use “public interest” as a criterion for preventing publication when preventive restriction of freedom of expression was concerned. Accepting that would mean that the authorities would be able to prevent publication, if they thought that the publication did not promote discussion of a topic of public interest. 22.     On 28 October 2010 the Turku Administrative Court rejected the applicant companies’ appeal. It found that, as far as the matter had been decided by the Supreme Administrative Court in its decision of 23   September 2009, it could not take a stand on the issue. In the latter decision the Supreme Administrative Court had stated that the case was not about the public nature of the taxation documents, nor about the right to publish such information. As the court was now examining only the decision rendered by the Data Protection Board which was issued as a result of the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision of 23 September 2009, it could not examine the issues which the Supreme Administrative Court had excluded from the scope of its decision. As the Board’s decision corresponded to the content of the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision, there was no reason to change it. 23.     By letter dated 29 November 2010 the applicant companies appealed further to the Supreme Administrative Court, reiterating the grounds of appeal already presented before the Administrative Court. They noted in particular that the decision issued by the Data Protection Board had prohibited the processing of taxation information for publishing purposes as well as requiring that the internal registers of the first applicant company be protected in a manner required by the Personal Data Act. In practice the companies were prevented from collecting information for publishing purposes, which meant that there was an interdiction to publish such information. The companies noted that the Finnish Constitution also prohibited indirect preventive censorship. 24.     On 18 June 2012 the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the judgment of the Administrative Court. It found that the case was not about the right to publish taxation information as such, nor about preventive censorship. On these grounds and the grounds mentioned in the Administrative Court’s reasoning, the court found that there was no reason to change the latter’s decision. II.     RELEVANT DOMESTIC LAW A.     Constitutional provisions 25.     Article 10 of the Constitution of Finland ( Suomen perustuslaki, Finlands grundlag , Act no. 731/1999) guarantees everyone’s right to private life. It provides that: “Everyone’s private life, honour and the sanctity of the home are guaranteed. More detailed provisions on the protection of personal data are laid down by an Act. The secrecy of correspondence, telephony and other confidential communications is inviolable. Measures encroaching on the sanctity of the home, and which are necessary for the purpose of guaranteeing basic rights and liberties or for the investigation of crime, may be laid down by an Act. In addition, provisions concerning limitations of the secrecy of communications which are necessary in the investigation of crimes that jeopardise the security of the individual or society or the sanctity of the home, at trials and security checks, as well as during the deprivation of liberty may be laid down by an Act.” 26.     Article 12 of the Constitution concerns the freedom of expression and provides the following: “Everyone has the freedom of expression. Freedom of expression entails the right to express, disseminate and receive information, opinions and other communications without prior prevention by anyone. More detailed provisions on the exercise of the freedom of expression are laid down by an Act. Provisions on restrictions relating to pictorial programmes that are necessary for the protection of children may be laid down by an Act.” B.     Provisions relating to freedom of expression 27.     According to section 1 of the Act on the Exercise of Freedom of Expression in Mass Media ( laki sananvapauden käyttämisestä joukkoviestinnässä, lagen om yttrandefrihet i masskommunikation , Act no.   460/2003), the Act contains more detailed provisions on the exercise, in the media, of the freedom of expression enshrined in the Constitution. In the application of the Act, interference with the activities of the media shall be legitimate only in so far as it is unavoidable, taking due note of the importance of the freedom of expression in a democracy subject to the rule of law. C.     Provisions relating to the protection of private life 28.     Chapter 24, section 8, of the Penal Code ( rikoslaki , strafflagen as amended by Act no. 531/2000) reads as follows: “ Dissemination of information violating private life : A person who unlawfully (1) through the use of the mass media, or (2) in another manner publicly spreads information, an insinuation or an image of the private life of another person, such that the act is likely to cause that person damage or suffering, or subject that person to contempt, shall be convicted of injuring personal reputation and sentenced to a fine or a maximum term of two years’ imprisonment. The spreading of information, an insinuation or an image of the private life of a person in politics, business, public office or a public position, or in a comparable position, shall not constitute injury to personal reputation, if it may affect the evaluation of that person’s activities in the position in question and if it is necessary for the purposes of dealing with a matter of importance to society.” D.     Personal Data Act 29.     According to sections 1 and 2 of the Personal Data Act ( henkilötietolaki, personuppgiftslagen , Act no. 523/1999, as in force at the relevant time), the objectives of this Act are to implement, in the processing of personal data, the protection of private life and the other basic rights which safeguard the right to privacy, as well as to promote the development of and compliance with good processing practice. 30.     The Act applies to the automatic processing of personal data. It applies also to other processing of personal data where the data constitutes or is intended to constitute a personal data file or a part thereof. 31.     The Act does not apply to the processing of personal data by a private individual for purely personal purposes or for comparable ordinary and private purposes. It does not apply either to personal data files containing, solely and in unaltered form, data that has been published by the media. Several exceptions also apply to the processing of personal data for purposes of journalism or artistic or literary expression. E.     Public disclosure of tax information 32.     According to section 5 of the Act on the Public Disclosure and Confidentiality of Tax Information ( laki verotustietojen julkisuudesta ja salassapidosta, lagen om offentlighet och sekretess i fråga om beskattningsuppgifter , Act no. 1346/1999), in annual taxation, the information on a taxpayer’s name, year of birth and municipality of domicile is public. In addition, the following information is public: “(1) earned income taxable in State taxation; (2) capital income and property taxable in State taxation; (3) income taxable in municipal taxation; (4) income and net wealth tax, municipal tax and the total amount of taxes and charges imposed; (5) the total amount of withholding tax; (6) the amount to be debited/the amount to be refunded in the final assessment for the tax year.” III.     RELEVANT EUROPEAN UNION LAW 33.     Article 9 of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data provides the following: “Processing of personal data and freedom of expression Member States shall provide for exemptions or derogations from the provisions of this Chapter, Chapter IV and Chapter VI for the processing of personal data carried out solely for journalistic purposes or the purpose of artistic or literary expression only if they are necessary to reconcile the right to privacy with the rules governing freedom of expression.” IV.     COUNCIL OF EUROPE TEXTS 34.     The Council of Europe Convention of 1981 for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (“the Data Protection Convention”), which entered into force in respect of Finland on 1 April 1992, defines “personal data” as any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. The Convention provides, inter alia : “Article 5 – Quality of data Personal data undergoing automatic processing shall be: a.     obtained and processed fairly and lawfully; b.     stored for specified and legitimate purposes and not used in a way incompatible with those purposes; c.     adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they are stored; ...” THE LAW I.     ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 10 OF THE CONVENTION 35.     The applicant companies complained under Article 10 of the Convention that their right to freedom of expression had been violated in a manner which was not “necessary in a democratic society”. The collection of taxation information was not illegal as such and this information was public. The decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court meant in fact that the applicant companies were put under prior censorship while other newspapers had been able to continue publishing such information. Also, a wide audience had a right to receive information. 36.     Article 10 of the Convention reads as follows: “1.     Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2.     The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.” 37.     The Government contested that argument. A.     Admissibility 38.     The Government observed that the applicant companies’ application had not been lodged within the six-month time-limit regarding the first set of proceedings. The present case involved two separate sets of proceedings as the subject-matters of these two sets of proceedings were not the same: the first set of proceedings concerned the question of whether the applicant companies had processed personal taxation data unlawfully and the second set of proceedings the issuance of orders for the processing of personal data. Consequently, in their view, in respect of the first set of proceedings the application should be declared inadmissible under Article 35 §§ 1 and 4 of the Convention. 39.     The applicant companies argued that the initial aim of the Data Protection Ombudsman was to obtain a publishing ban on the applicant companies. This was not accomplished until the second round of the proceedings. The proceedings could not be divided into two separate sets of proceedings with independent and separable domestic remedies in each. The Supreme Administrative Court had referred the case back to the Data Protection Board in September 2009. That court could also have issued the ban directly without referring the case back to the Board. The applicant companies thus argued that their application had been lodged within the six ‑ month time-limit regarding the first round of the proceedings. 40.     The Court notes that the first round of the proceedings ended on 23   September 2009 when the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the lower decisions and referred the case back to the Data Protection Board. As the case was referred back to the Data Protection Board, there was no final decision, but the proceedings continued with the second round of the proceedings. The domestic proceedings became final only on 18 June 2012 when the Supreme Administrative Court delivered its second and final decision in the case. The Court considers that, as there was only one final decision, there was only one set of proceedings, although the case was examined twice before the different levels of jurisdiction. The Court therefore rejects the Government’s preliminary objection concerning the first round of the proceedings, and considers that the complaint under Article 10 is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article   35   §   3   (a) of the Convention. It further notes that this complaint is not inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible. B.     Merits 1.     The parties’ submissions (a)     The applicant companies 41.     The applicant companies noted that taxation data was public in Finland and that anyone could have access to it. In this respect the taxation data differed crucially from, for example, medical records. Finnish taxation data had been, and continued to be, published in newspapers and websites. This activity had been the subject of profound discussions in the context of which the legislator had decided to maintain public access to taxation data. Publishing public taxation data had thus been accepted by the Finnish legislator. Annually on 1 November, when the taxation records of the preceding year became public, numerous newspapers and other media continuously published varying amounts of taxation data in printed papers and websites, and this publishing was not in any relevant manner different from the applicant companies’ activities. 42.     The applicant companies argued that there was no prescription of proactive limitations to the freedom of expression in the Personal Data Act or in other legislation referred to by the Government. Such limitations were – as they should be – retrospective. The prohibition on processing taxation data de facto also prohibited the applicant companies from publishing it. This publishing activity was also de facto the sole reason for the prohibition. Processing of taxation data was forbidden insofar as such data was to be published. In other words, collecting and publishing taxation data which was not to be published was not forbidden. Therefore the prohibition constituted a proactive ban, also known as censorship, which was strictly against the Finnish Constitution. 43.     The applicant companies maintained that the Personal Data Act did not prescribe restrictions to freedom of expression. The Act was not at all intended to be applied to such personal data which was to be published, as the “journalistic exception” was to be applied to the personal data registers which were meant to support actual publishing. However, any possibility of limiting basic fundamental rights such as freedom of expression should be explicitly provided by law. On the other hand, the preparatory works of the Act on the Public Disclosure and Confidentiality of Taxation Information indicated that publishing even large amounts of tax data was accepted by the legislator. The restrictions were thus not prescribed by law. 44.     As to the necessity in a democratic society, the applicant companies noted that publishing of taxation data was common, frequent and expressly accepted by the Finnish legislator. They asked what the pressing social need was that demanded limiting their publishing activities while other newspapers and websites continued to publish taxation data in Finland. According to the Government, the matter was not examined as a potential limitation to freedom of expression but as handling of personal data. To the applicant companies, these two issues could not be effectively separated from each other in the way the Finnish authorities had done in the present case. Prior to publishing, data needed to be collected and processed. This was done by practically all Finnish newspapers. It was true that the extent of the information published by the applicant companies was different to that practised by other publishers, but the manner of publishing was the same. Taxation data was customarily published in catalogue form with few, if any, comments. The protection of privacy had not, during previous decades, been a ground to prevent other media from publishing information on taxable income of ordinary persons. 45.     The applicant companies noted that, in the present case, the limitations to their freedom of expression on the basis of the estimated general interest had been made prior to the publication. The mere possibility of proactively censoring a newspaper on the basis of “lacking general interest of its contents”, or on the basis of its contents in the first place was, in the applicant companies’ view, very dangerous for democracy. The Supreme Administrative Court’s conception of journalism was in contradiction with that of the Court of Justice of the European Union, according to which it was to be interpreted broadly, not strictly. The content of journalism did not change with the amount of information published. (b)     The Government 46.     The Government argued that, in the special circumstances of the case, banning the applicant companies from processing taxation data did not constitute an interference with the applicant companies’ right to freedom of expression within the meaning of Article 10 of the Convention. Were the Court to have another opinion, such interference was in any event prescribed by law and it was “necessary in a democratic society”. 47.     The Government noted that the impugned measures had had a basis in Finnish law, especially in various provisions of the Personal Data Act. These measures had been taken for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, in particular for the protection of private life. 48.     As to the necessity in a democratic society, the Government noted that the extensive publication in unaltered form without journalistic comments of individuals’ taxation data, which was public as such, had mainly satisfied the curiosity of the readers. Such processing conflicted with the Personal Data Act, the purpose of which was to implement the protection of private life and other basic rights safeguarding the right to privacy during the processing of personal data. The public availability of taxation data in Finland in general was exceptional in Europe, as many EU   member States classified such data as private. Access to public information did not entail that such information could always be published but the publishing should always serve the interests of public debate. 49.     The Government observed that the case had been thoroughly examined by the national authorities and courts. The Supreme Administrative Court had assessed the matter in both sets of proceedings before it as a question of balancing the right to freedom of expression, on the one hand, and the right to private life, on the other hand. It had found, inter alia , that this assessment should take into account to what extent “an open discussion of general interest and necessity in a democratic society or the control of public use of power or the freedom of criticism did not require the publishing of personal data concerning individuals to the now meant extent”. The Government thus considered that the reasons relied on by the domestic courts were relevant and sufficient for the purposes of Article 10 of the Convention. 50.     The Government considered also that the sanctions imposed on the applicant companies had been reasonable. In its decision of 26   November 2011 the Data Protection Board had expressly stated that the first applicant company had been permitted to process personal data to the extent that the data had been used exclusively for journalistic activity and processed for journalistic purposes, provided that the first applicant company protected the data appropriately. Furthermore, the first applicant company had never been prohibited generally from publishing the information in question. It could therefore, if it so wished, have changed its activity so as to comply with the Personal Data Act. Moreover, the matter did not concern prior censorship as it did not concern the right to publish taxation data as such but the handling of the personal data. The case was not about a possible prior interference with the contents of the publication but about the assessment of the legal preconditions set for the handling of personal data with the aim of ensuring the protection of private life. Referring to the margin of appreciation, the Government considered that the domestic courts had struck a fair balance between the competing interests and that the impugned interference had been necessary in a democratic society. There was thus no violation of Article 10 of the Convention. 2.     The Court’s assessment (a)     Whether there was an interference 51.     The Court notes that the parties disagree on whether the ban imposed on the applicant companies constitutes an interference with their right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 10 § 1 of the Convention. According to the Government, banning the applicant companies from processing taxation data did not constitute an interference with the applicant companies’ right to freedom of expression, while the applicant companies claimed that it did, referring in this respect even to censorship. 52.     The Court notes that in November 2009 the Data Protection Board forbade the first applicant company to process taxation data in the manner and to the extent that had been the case in 2002 and to forward this information to an SMS-service. The second applicant company was forbidden to collect, save or forward to an SMS-service any information received from the first applicant company’s registers and published in the magazine. As a result, Veropörssi magazine published taxation data once more in autumn 2009 when its content was only one fifth of the previous content. Since then, the magazine has not appeared. The SMS ‑ service had already been shut down earlier. 53.     The Court considers that the prohibition issued by the Data Protection Board did not prevent the applicant companies from publishing taxation data as such. However, it prohibited them from collecting, saving and processing such data to a large extent, with the result that an essential part of the information previously published in Veropörssi magazine could no longer be published. It must therefore be considered that there was an interference with the applicant companies’ right to impart information, as guaranteed by Article 10 § 1 of the Convention. (b)     Whether the interference was prescribed by law and pursued a legitimate aim 54.     The Court notes that the parties also disagree on whether the interference was prescribed by law and pursued a legitimate aim. According to the Government, the impugned measures had a basis in Finnish law, especially in various provisions of the Personal Data Act and these measures were taken for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, in particular for the protection of private life. On the contrary, the applicant companies maintained that the Personal Data Act did not prescribe any restrictions to freedom of expression and that this Act was not at all intended to be applied to such personal data which was to be published. The “journalistic exception” provided by the Act was to be applied to the personal data registers which were meant to support actual publishing. 55.     The Court notes that the right to impart information is subject to the exceptions set out in Article 10 § 2 of the Convention. The Court accepts that the interference was based on the provisions of the Personal Data Act, as in force at the relevant time. In the present case the question before the domestic courts was whether the “journalistic exception” provided by the Personal Data Act was applicable to the applicant companies’ case. In other words, the question was whether in their case the domestic law, as interpreted by the domestic courts, allowed exceptions to be made from the protection of private life in favour of the freedom of expression. The Court therefore considers that the interference was “prescribed by law” and it pursued the legitimate aim of protecting the reputation or rights of others, within the meaning of Article 10 § 2. (c)     Whether the interference was necessary in a democratic society 56.     According to the Court’s well-established case-law, freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and each individual’s self-fulfilment. Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10 of the Convention, it is applicable not only to “information” or “ideas” that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb. Such are the demands of pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness, without which there is no “democratic society”. This freedom is subject to the exceptions set out in Article 10 § 2 which must, however, be strictly construed. The need for any restrictions must be established convincingly (see, for example, Nilsen and Johnsen v. Norway [GC], no. 23118/93 , § 43, ECHR 1999-VIII; and Lingens v. Austria , 8   July 1986, § 41, Series A no. 103). 57.     The adjective “necessary”, within the meaning of Article 10 § 2, implies the existence of a “pressing social need”. The Contracting States have a certain margin of appreciation in assessing whether such a need exists, but it goes hand in hand with a European supervision, embracing both the legislation and the decisions applying it, even those given by an independent court. The Court is therefore empowered to give the final ruling on whether a “restriction” is reconcilable with freedom of expression as protected by Article 10 (see Janowski v. Poland [GC], no. 25716/94 , § 30, ECHR 1999-I). 58.     The Court’s task in exercising its supervision is not to take the place of national authorities but rather to review under Article 10, in the light of the case as a whole, the decisions they have taken pursuant to their power of appreciation (see, among many other authorities, Fressoz and Roire v.   France [GC], no. 29183/95 , § 45, ECHR 1999-I). 59.     In exercising its supervisory jurisdiction, the Court must look at the impugned interference in the light of the case as a whole. In particular, it must determine whether the interference in issue was “proportionate to the legitimate aims pursued” and whether the reasons adduced by the national authorities to justify it were “relevant and sufficient” (see Janowski v.   Poland , cited above, § 30; News Verlags GmbH & Co.KG v. Austria , no.   31457/96 , § 52, ECHR 2000-I; Barfod v. Denmark , 22 February 1989, §   28, Series A no. 149; Lingens v. Austria , cited above, § 40; and Sunday   Times v. the United Kingdom (no. 1), 26 April 1979, § 62, Series A no. 30). In doing so, the Court has to satisfy itself that the national authorities applied standards which were in conformity with the principles embodied in Article 10 and, moreover, that they based themselves on an acceptable assessment of the relevant facts (see Jersild v. Denmark , 23   September 1994, § 31, Series A no. 298). 60.     The Court further emphasises the essential function the press fulfils in a democratic society. Although the press must not overstep certain bounds, particularly as regards the reputation and rights of others and the need to prevent the disclosure of confidential information, its duty is nevertheless to impart – in a manner consistent with its obligations and responsibilities – information and ideas on all matters of public interest (see Bladet Tromsø and Stensaas v. Norway [GC], no. 21980/93 , § 58, ECHR   1999-III; De Haes and Gijsels v. Belgium , 24 February 1997, § 37, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1997 ‑ I; and Jersild v. Denmark , cited above, §   31). Not only do the media have the task of imparting such information and ideas, the public also has a right to receive them (see, for example, Sunday Times v. the United Kingdom (no. 1) , cited above, § 65). 61.     The Court has recently set out the relevant principles to be applied when examining the necessity of an instance of interference with the right to freedom of expression in the interests of the “protection of the reputation or rights of others”. It noted that in such cases the Court may be required to verify whether the domestic authorities struck a fair balance when protecting two values guaranteed by the Convention which may come into conflict with each other in certain cases, namely, on the one hand, freedom of expression protected by Article 10 and, on the other, the right to respect for private life enshrined in Article 8 (see Axel Springer AG v. Germany [GC], no. 39954/08 , § 84, 7 February 2012; and MGN Limited v.   the   United Kingdom , no. 39401/04 , § 142, 18 January 2011). 62.     In Von Hannover v. Germany (no. 2) [GC] (nos. 40660/08 and 60641/08 , §§ 104-107, ECHR 2012) and Axel Springer AG v. Germany [GC] (cited above, §§ 85-88), the Court defined the Contracting States’ margin of appreciation and its own role in balancing these two conflicting interests. The Court went on to identify a number of criteria as being relevant where the right of freedom of expression is being balanced against the right to respect for private life (see Von Hannover v. Germany (no. 2) [GC], cited above, §§ 109-113; and Axel Springer AG v. Germany [GC], cited above, §§ 89-95), namely: (i)     contribution to a debate of general interest; (ii)     how well-known is the person concerned and what is the subject of the report; (iii)     prior conduct of the person concerned; (iv)     method of obtaining the information and its veracity/circumstances in which the photographs were taken; (v)     content, form and consequences of the publication; and (vi)     severity of the sanction imposed. 63.     Turning to the facts of the present case, the Court notes that the applicant companies were not as such forbidden to publish taxation data in Veropörssi magazine. However, they were forbidden to collect, save or process taxation data in the manner and to the extent that had been the case in 2002 and to forward this information to an SMS-service. As a result, the applicant companies published one more issue of Veropörssi magazine in autumn 2009 with one fifth of the previous content. Since then, the magazine has not appeared. The SMS-service had already been shut down earlier. 64.     In order to assess whether the “necessity” of the restriction of the exercise of the freedom of expression has been established convincingly, the Court must examine whether the balancing exercise between the freedom of expression and the right to respect for private life has been undertaken by the national authorities, in conformity with the criteria laid down in the Court’s case-law. 65.     The Court considers first of all that the general subject-matter which was at the heart of the publication in question, namely the taxation data about natural persons’ taxable income and assets, was already a matter of public record in Finland, and as such was considered to be a matter of public interest. From the point of view of the general public’s right to receive information about matters of public interest, and thus from the standpoint of the press, there were justified grounds for imparting such information to the public. 66.     The Court notes that in 2002 Veropörssi magazine published taxation data on 1.2 million persons’ taxable income and assets. These persons must have included both well-known personalities and ordinary citizens. According to the specific Act on the Public Disclosure and Confidentiality of Tax Information, this taxation information is public in Finland. There is thus no suggestion that the published information was obtained by subterfuge or other illicit means (compare Von Hannover v. Germany , no.   59320/00, § 68, ECHR 2004 ‑ VI). On the contrary, the published information was received directly from the tax authorities. 67.     Moreover, the Court observes that the accuracy of the published information was not in dispute even before the domestic courts. There is no evidence, or indeed any allegation, of factual errors, misrepresentation or bad faith on the part of the applicant companies (see, in this connection, Flinkkilä and Others v. Finland , no. 25576/04 , § 81, 6 April 2010). 68.     The Court notes that the only problematic issue for the national authorities and courts was the extent of the published information. According to them, the publishing of taxation information to such an extent as in 2002 could not be considered as journalism but as processing of personal data, which the applicant companies had no right to do. The central question thus turned on the concept of journalism. As the derogation provided by the Personal Data Act concerning journalism had its origins in Directive 95/46/EC, the Supreme Administrative Court decided to request a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union on the interpretation of Directive 95/46/EC in that respect. 69.     The Court notes that the Court of Justice of the European Union found in its preliminary ruling that, in order to take account of the impo