In the case of Italgomme Pneumatici S.r.l. v. Italy the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to respect for home and correspondence.

The case concerned access to and the inspection of business premises, registered offices or premises used for professional activities. The inspections involved the examination, copying and seizure of accounting records, company books, invoices and other mandatory accounting-related documents, as well as several different types of documents relevant for tax assessment purposes. This was carried out in order to assess the applicants’ compliance with their tax obligations.

The Court found that, even though there was a general legal basis in Italian law for the measures in question, that law did not meet the “quality of law” requirement of the Convention. Even taking into account the wide discretion that States held in this respect, the Court considered that the national legal framework gave the domestic authorities unlimited leeway as regards the scope of the measures and the way in which they could be implemented. Moreover, it did not provide sufficient procedural safeguards, as the legality, necessity and proportionality of the measures were not subject to sufficient review. All in all, it had not provided the applicants with the minimum degree of protection to which they were entitled under the Convention.

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