(a) The Government

65. The Government argued that the applicant could not claim any expectation of “privacy” as regards the communications he had exchanged via an instant messaging account created for professional use. With reference to the case-law of the French and Cypriot courts, they submitted that messages sent by an employee using the technical facilities made available to him by his employer had to be regarded as professional in nature unless the employee explicitly identified them as private. They noted that it was not technically possible using Yahoo Messenger to mark messages as private; nevertheless, the applicant had had an adequate opportunity, during the initial stage of the disciplinary proceedings, to indicate that his communications had been private, and yet had chosen to maintain that they had been work-related. The applicant had been informed not only of his employer's internal regulations, which prohibited all personal use of company resources, but also of the fact that his employer had initiated a process for monitoring his communications.

66. The Government relied on three further arguments in contending that Article 8 of the Convention was not applicable in the present case. Firstly, there was no evidence to suggest that the transcript of the applicant's communications had been disclosed to his work colleagues; the applicant himself had produced the full transcript of the messages in the proceedings before the domestic courts, without asking for any restrictions to be placed on access to the documents concerned. Secondly, the national authorities had used the transcript of the messages as evidence because the applicant had so requested, and because the prosecuting authorities had already found that the monitoring of his communications had been lawful. Thirdly, the information notice had contained sufficient indications for the applicant to have been aware that his employer could monitor his communications, and this had rendered them devoid of any private element.

(b) The applicant

67. The applicant did not make any submissions as to the applicability of Article 8 of the Convention, but repeatedly maintained that his communications had been private in nature.

68. He further argued that, since he had created the Yahoo Messenger account in question and was the only person who knew the password, he had had a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding his communications. He also asserted that he had not received prior notification from his employer about the monitoring of his communications.

(a) The applicant

82. In his written observations before the Grand Chamber, the applicant submitted that the Chamber had not taken sufficient account of certain factual aspects of the case. Firstly, he emphasised the specific features of Yahoo Messenger, which was designed for personal use. His employer's decision to use this tool in a work context did not alter the fact that it was essentially intended to be used for personal purposes. He thus considered himself to be the sole owner of the Yahoo Messenger account that he had opened at his employer's request.

83. Secondly, the applicant argued that his employer had not introduced any policy on internet use. He had not had any warning of the possibility that his communications might be monitored or read; nor had he given any consent in that regard. If such a policy had been in place and he had been informed of it, he would have refrained from disclosing certain aspects of his private life on Yahoo Messenger.

84. Thirdly, the applicant contended that a distinction should be drawn between personal internet use having a profit-making purpose and “a small harmless private conversation” which had not sought to derive any profit and had not caused any damage to his employer; he pointed out in that connection that during the disciplinary proceedings against him, the employer had not accused him of having caused any damage to the company. The applicant highlighted developments in information and communication technologies, as well as in the social customs and habits linked to their use. He submitted that contemporary working conditions made it impossible to draw a clear dividing line between private and professional life, and disputed the legitimacy of any management policy prohibiting personal use of the internet and of any connected devices.

85. From a legal standpoint, the applicant submitted that the Romanian State had not fulfilled its positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention. More specifically, the domestic courts had not overturned his dismissal despite having acknowledged that there had been a violation of his right to respect for his private communications.

86. Firstly, he submitted that the Chamber had incorrectly distinguished the present case from Copland (cited above, § 42). In his view, the decisive factor in analysing the case was not whether the employer had tolerated personal internet use, but the fact that the employer had not warned the employee that his communications could be monitored. In that connection, he contended that his employer had first placed him under surveillance and had only afterwards given him the opportunity to specify whether his communications were private or work-related. The Court had to examine both whether an outright ban on personal internet use entitled the employer to monitor its employees, and whether the employer had to give reasons for such monitoring.

87. Secondly, the applicant submitted that the Chamber's analysis in relation to the second paragraph of Article 8 was not consistent with the Court's case-law in that it had not sought to ascertain whether the interference with his right to respect for his private life and correspondence had been in accordance with the law, had pursued a legitimate aim and had been necessary in a democratic society.

88. With regard to the jurisdiction of the labour courts, the applicant contended that they were competent to carry out a full review of the lawfulness and justification of the measure referred to them. It was for the courts to request the production of the necessary evidence and to raise any relevant factual or legal issues, even where they had not been mentioned by the parties. Accordingly, the labour courts had extensive jurisdiction to examine any issues relating to a labour-law dispute, including those linked to respect for employees' private life and correspondence.

89. However, in the applicant's case the domestic courts had pursued a rigid approach, aimed simply at upholding his employer's decision. They had performed an incorrect analysis of the factual aspects of the case and had failed to take into account the specific features of communications in cyberspace. The violation of the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence had thus been intentional and illegal and its aim had been to gather evidence enabling his contract to be terminated.

90. Lastly, the applicant complained for the first time in the proceedings before the Grand Chamber of the outcome of the criminal complaint he had lodged in 2007: in 2012 the department of the prosecutor's office with responsibility for investigating organised crime and terrorism (DIICOT) had rejected the complaint without properly establishing the facts of the case.

91. At the hearing before the Grand Chamber the applicant stated, in reply to a question from the judges, that because his employer had only made a single printer available to employees, all his colleagues had been able to see the contents of the forty-five-page transcript of his Yahoo Messenger communications.

92. The applicant urged the Grand Chamber to find a violation of Article 8 of the Convention and to take the opportunity to confirm that monitoring of employees' correspondence could only be carried out in compliance with the applicable legislation, in a transparent manner and on grounds provided for by law, and that employers did not have discretion to monitor their employees' correspondence.

(b) The Government

93. The Government stated that the employer had recorded the applicant's communications from 5 to 13 July 2007 and had then given him an opportunity to account for his internet use, which was more substantial than that of his colleagues. They pointed out that since the applicant had maintained that the contents of his communications were work-related, the employer had investigated his explanations.

94. The Government argued that in his appeal against the decision of the first-instance court the applicant had not challenged the court's finding that he had been informed that his employer was monitoring internet use. In that connection, they produced a copy of the information notice issued by the employer and signed by the applicant. On the basis of the employer's attendance register, they observed that the applicant had signed the notice between 3 and 13 July 2007.

95. The Government further submitted that the employer had recorded the applicant's communications in real time. There was no evidence that the employer had accessed the applicant's previous communications or his private email.

96. The Government indicated their agreement with the Chamber's conclusions and submitted that the Romanian State had satisfied its positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention.

97. They observed firstly that the applicant had chosen to raise his complaints in the domestic courts in the context of a labour-law dispute. The courts had examined all his complaints and weighed up the various interests at stake, but the main focus of their analysis had been whether the disciplinary proceedings against the applicant had been compliant with domestic law. The applicant had had the option of raising before the domestic courts his specific complaint of a violation of his right to respect for his private life, for example by means of an action under Law no. 677/2001 or an action in tort, but he had chosen not to do so. He had also filed a criminal complaint, which had given rise to a decision by the prosecuting authorities to take no further action on the grounds that the monitoring by the employer of employees' communications had not been unlawful.

98. Referring more specifically to the State's positive obligations, the Government submitted that approaches among Council of Europe member States varied greatly as regards the regulation of employee monitoring by employers. Some States included this matter within the wider scope of personal data processing, while others had passed specific legislation in this sphere. Even among the latter group of States, there were no uniform solutions regarding the scope and purpose of monitoring by the employer, prior notification of employees or personal internet use.

99. Relying on Köpke (cited above), the Government maintained that the domestic courts had performed an appropriate balancing exercise between the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence and his employer's right to organise and supervise work within the company. In the Government's submission, where communications were monitored by a private entity, an appropriate examination by the domestic courts was sufficient for the purposes of Article 8 and there was no need for specific protection by means of a legislative framework.

100. The Government further submitted that the domestic courts had reviewed the lawfulness and the necessity of the employer's decision and had concluded that the disciplinary proceedings had been conducted in accordance with the legislation in force. They attached particular importance to the manner in which the proceedings had been conducted, especially the opportunity given to the applicant to indicate whether the communications in question had been private. If he had made use of that opportunity, the domestic courts would have weighed up the interests at stake differently.

101. In that connection, the Government noted that in the proceedings before the domestic authorities the applicant himself had produced the full transcripts of his communications, without taking any precautions; he could instead have disclosed only the names of the relevant accounts or submitted extracts of his communications, for example those that did not contain any intimate information. The Government also disputed the applicant's allegations that his communications had been disclosed to his colleagues and pointed out that only the three-member disciplinary board had had access to them.

102. The Government further contended that the employer's decision had been necessary, since it had had to investigate the arguments raised by the applicant in the disciplinary proceedings in order to determine whether he had complied with the internal regulations.

103. Lastly, the Government argued that a distinction should be made between the nature of the communications and their content. They observed, as the Chamber had, that the domestic courts had not taken the content of the applicant's communications into account at all but had simply examined their nature and found that they were personal.

104. The Government thus concluded that the applicant's complaint under Article 8 of the Convention was ill-founded.

(c) Third parties

(i) The French Government

105. The French Government referred, in particular, to their conception of the scope of the national authorities' positive obligation to ensure respect for employees' private life and correspondence. They provided a comprehensive overview of the applicable provisions of French civil law, labour law and criminal law in this sphere. In their submission, Article 8 of the Convention was only applicable to strictly personal data, correspondence and electronic activities. In that connection, they referred to settled case-law of the French Court of Cassation to the effect that any data processed, sent and received by means of the employer's electronic equipment were presumed to be professional in nature unless the employee designated them clearly and precisely as personal.

106. The French Government submitted that States had to enjoy a wide margin of appreciation in this sphere since the aim was to strike a balance between competing private interests. The employer could monitor employees' professional data and correspondence to a reasonable degree, provided that a legitimate aim was pursued, and could use the results of the monitoring operation in disciplinary proceedings. They emphasised that employees had to be given advance notice of such monitoring. In addition, where data clearly designated as personal by the employee were involved, the employer could ask the courts to order investigative measures and to instruct a bailiff to access the relevant data and record their content.

(ii) The European Trade Union Confederation

107. The European Trade Union Confederation submitted that it was crucial to protect privacy in the working environment, taking into account in particular the fact that employees were structurally dependent on employers in this context. After summarising the applicable principles of international and European law, it stated that internet access should be regarded as a human right and that the right to respect for correspondence should be strengthened. The consent, or at least prior notification, of employees was required, and staff representatives had to be informed, before the employer could process employees' personal data.

(a) Whether the case concerns a negative or a positive obligation

108. The Court must determine whether the present case should be examined in terms of the State's negative or positive obligations. It reiterates that by Article 1 of the Convention, the Contracting Parties “shall secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in … [the] Convention”. While the essential object of Article 8 of the Convention is to protect individuals against arbitrary interference by public authorities, it may also impose on the State certain positive obligations to ensure effective respect for the rights protected by Article 8 (see, among other authorities, X and Y v. the Netherlands, 26 March 1985, § 23, Series A no. 91; Von Hannover (no. 2), cited above, § 98; and Hämäläinen v. Finland [GC], no. 37359/09, § 62, ECHR 2014).

109. In the present case the Court observes that the measure complained of by the applicant, namely the monitoring of Yahoo Messenger communications, which resulted in disciplinary proceedings against him followed by his dismissal for infringing his employer's internal regulations prohibiting the personal use of company resources, was not taken by a State authority but by a private commercial company. The monitoring of the applicant's communications and the inspection of their content by his employer in order to justify his dismissal cannot therefore be regarded as “interference” with his right by a State authority.

110. Nevertheless, the Court notes that the measure taken by the employer was accepted by the national courts. It is true that the monitoring of the applicant's communications was not the result of direct intervention by the national authorities; however, their responsibility would be engaged if the facts complained of stemmed from a failure on their part to secure to the applicant the enjoyment of a right enshrined in Article 8 of the Convention (see, mutatis mutandis, Obst v. Germany, no. 425/03, §§ 40 and 43, 23 September 2010, and Schüth v. Germany, no. 1620/03, §§ 54 and 57, ECHR 2010).

111. In the light of the particular circumstances of the case as described in paragraph 109 above, the Court considers, having regard to its conclusion concerning the applicability of Article 8 of the Convention (see paragraph 81 above) and to the fact that the applicant's enjoyment of his right to respect for his private life and correspondence was impaired by the actions of a private employer, that the complaint should be examined from the standpoint of the State's positive obligations.

112. While the boundaries between the State's positive and negative obligations under the Convention do not lend themselves to precise definition, the applicable principles are nonetheless similar. In both contexts regard must be had in particular to the fair balance that has to be struck between the competing interests of the individual and of the community as a whole, subject in any event to the margin of appreciation enjoyed by the State (see Palomo Sánchez and Others v. Spain [GC], nos. 28955/06 and 3 others, § 62, ECHR 2011).

(b) General principles applicable to the assessment of the State's positive obligation to ensure respect for private life and correspondence in an employment context

113. The Court reiterates that the choice of the means calculated to secure compliance with Article 8 of the Convention in the sphere of the relations of individuals between themselves is in principle a matter that falls within the Contracting States' margin of appreciation. There are different ways of ensuring respect for private life, and the nature of the State's obligation will depend on the particular aspect of private life that is at issue (see Söderman v. Sweden [GC], no. 5786/08, § 79, ECHR 2013, with further references).

114. The Court's task in the present case is therefore to clarify the nature and scope of the positive obligations that the respondent State was required to comply with in protecting the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence in the context of his employment.

115. The Court observes that it has held that in certain circumstances, the State's positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention are not adequately fulfilled unless it secures respect for private life in the relations between individuals by setting up a legislative framework taking into consideration the various interests to be protected in a particular context (see X and Y v. the Netherlands, cited above, §§ 23, 24 and 27, and M.C. v. Bulgaria, no. 39272/98, § 150, ECHR 2003-XII, both concerning sexual assaults of minors; see also K.U. v. Finland, no. 2872/02, §§ 43 and 49, ECHR 2008, concerning an advertisement of a sexual nature placed on an internet dating site in the name of a minor; Söderman, cited above, § 85, concerning the effectiveness of remedies in respect of an alleged violation of personal integrity committed by a close relative; and Codarcea v. Romania, no. 31675/04, §§ 102-04, 2 June 2009, concerning medical negligence).

116. The Court accepts that protective measures are not only to be found in labour law, but also in civil and criminal law. As far as labour law is concerned, it must ascertain whether in the present case the respondent State was required to set up a legislative framework to protect the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence in the context of his professional relationship with a private employer.

117. In this connection it considers at the outset that labour law has specific features that must be taken into account. The employer-employee relationship is contractual, with particular rights and obligations on either side, and is characterised by legal subordination. It is governed by its own legal rules, which differ considerably from those generally applicable to relations between individuals (see Saumier v. France, no. 74734/14, § 60, 12 January 2017).

118. From a regulatory perspective, labour law leaves room for negotiation between the parties to the contract of employment. Thus, it is generally for the parties themselves to regulate a significant part of the content of their relations (see, mutatis mutandis, Wretlund v. Sweden (dec.), no. 46210/99, 9 March 2004, concerning the compatibility with Article 8 of the Convention of the obligation for the applicant, an employee at a nuclear plant, to undergo drug tests; with regard to trade-union action from the standpoint of Article 11, see Gustafsson v. Sweden, 25 April 1996, § 45, Reports 1996-II, and, mutatis mutandis, Demir and Baykara v. Turkey [GC], no. 34503/97, §§ 140-46, ECHR 2008, for the specific case of civil servants). It also appears from the comparative-law material at the Court's disposal that there is no European consensus on this issue. Few member States have explicitly regulated the question of the exercise by employees of their right to respect for their private life and correspondence in the workplace (see paragraph 52 above).

119. In the light of the above considerations, the Court takes the view that the Contracting States must be granted a wide margin of appreciation in assessing the need to establish a legal framework governing the conditions in which an employer may regulate electronic or other communications of a non-professional nature by its employees in the workplace.

120. Nevertheless, the discretion enjoyed by States in this field cannot be unlimited. The domestic authorities should ensure that the introduction by an employer of measures to monitor correspondence and other communications, irrespective of the extent and duration of such measures, is accompanied by adequate and sufficient safeguards against abuse (see, mutatis mutandis, Klass and Others v. Germany, 6 September 1978, § 50, Series A no. 28, and Roman Zakharov, cited above, §§ 232-34).

121. The Court is aware of the rapid developments in this area. Nevertheless, it considers that proportionality and procedural guarantees against arbitrariness are essential. In this context, the domestic authorities should treat the following factors as relevant:

In this context, it is worth reiterating that in order to be fruitful, labour relations must be based on mutual trust (see Palomo Sánchez and Others, cited above, § 76).

122. Lastly, the domestic authorities should ensure that an employee whose communications have been monitored has access to a remedy before a judicial body with jurisdiction to determine, at least in substance, how the criteria outlined above were observed and whether the impugned measures were lawful (see Obst, cited above, § 45, and Köpke, cited above).

123. In the present case the Court will assess how the domestic courts to which the applicant applied dealt with his complaint of an infringement by his employer of his right to respect for his private life and correspondence in an employment context.

(c) Application of the above general principles in the present case

124. The Court observes that the domestic courts held that the interests at stake in the present case were, on the one hand, the applicant's right to respect for his private life, and on the other hand, the employer's right to engage in monitoring, including the corresponding disciplinary powers, in order to ensure the smooth running of the company (see paragraphs 28 and 30 above). It considers that, by virtue of the State's positive obligations under Article 8 of the Convention, the national authorities were required to carry out a balancing exercise between these competing interests.

125. The Court observes that the precise subject of the complaint brought before it is the alleged failure of the national courts, in the context of a labour-law dispute, to protect the applicant's right under Article 8 of the Convention to respect for his private life and correspondence in an employment context. Throughout the proceedings the applicant complained in particular, both before the domestic courts and before the Court, about his employer's monitoring of his communications via the Yahoo Messenger accounts in question and the use of their contents in the subsequent disciplinary proceedings against him.

126. As to whether the employer disclosed the contents of the communications to the applicant's colleagues (see paragraph 26 above), the Court observes that this argument is not sufficiently substantiated by the material in the case file and that the applicant did not produce any further evidence at the hearing before the Grand Chamber (see paragraph 91 above).

127. It therefore considers that the complaint before it concerns the applicant's dismissal based on the monitoring carried out by his employer. More specifically, it must ascertain in the present case whether the national authorities performed a balancing exercise, in accordance with the requirements of Article 8 of the Convention, between the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence and the employer's interests. Its task is therefore to determine whether, in the light of all the circumstances of the case, the competent national authorities struck a fair balance between the competing interests at stake when accepting the monitoring measures to which the applicant was subjected (see, mutatis mutandis, Palomo Sánchez and Others, cited above, § 62). It acknowledges that the employer has a legitimate interest in ensuring the smooth running of the company, and that this can be done by establishing mechanisms for checking that its employees are performing their professional duties adequately and with the necessary diligence.

128. In the light of the above considerations, the Court will first examine the manner in which the domestic courts established the relevant facts in the present case. Both the County Court and the Court of Appeal held that the applicant had had prior notification from his employer (see paragraphs 28 and 30 above). The Court must then ascertain whether the domestic courts observed the requirements of the Convention when considering the case.

129. At this stage, the Court considers it useful to reiterate that when it comes to establishing the facts, it is sensitive to the subsidiary nature of its task and must be cautious in taking on the role of a first-instance tribunal of fact, where this is not rendered unavoidable by the circumstances of a particular case (see Mustafa Tunç and Fecire Tunç v. Turkey [GC], no. 24014/05, § 182, 14 April 2015). Where domestic proceedings have taken place, it is not the Court's task to substitute its own assessment of the facts for that of the domestic courts and it is for the latter to establish the facts on the basis of the evidence before them (see, among other authorities, Edwards v. the United Kingdom, 16 December 1992, § 34, Series A no. 247-B). Though the Court is not bound by the findings of domestic courts and remains free to make its own assessment in the light of all the material before it, in normal circumstances it requires cogent elements to lead it to depart from the findings of fact reached by the domestic courts (see Giuliani and Gaggio v. Italy [GC], no. 23458/02, § 180, ECHR 2011 (extracts), and Aydan v. Turkey, no. 16281/10, § 69, 12 March 2013).

130. The evidence produced before the Court indicates that the applicant had been informed of his employer's internal regulations, which prohibited the personal use of company resources (see paragraph 12 above). He had acknowledged the contents of the document in question and had signed a copy of it on 20 December 2006 (see paragraph 14 above). In addition, the employer had sent all employees an information notice dated 26 June 2007 reminding them that personal use of company resources was prohibited and explaining that an employee had been dismissed for breaching this rule (see paragraph 15 above). The applicant acquainted himself with the notice and signed a copy of it on an unspecified date between 3 and 13 July 2007 (see paragraph 16 above). The Court notes lastly that on 13 July 2007 the applicant was twice summoned by his employer to provide explanations as to his personal use of the internet (see paragraphs 18 and 20 above). Initially, after being shown the charts indicating his internet activity and that of his colleagues, he argued that his use of his Yahoo Messenger account had been purely work-related (see paragraphs 18 and 19 above). Subsequently, on being presented fifty minutes later with a forty-five-page transcript of his communications with his brother and fiancée, he informed his employer that in his view it had committed the criminal offence of breaching the secrecy of correspondence (see paragraph 22 above).

131. The Court notes that the domestic courts correctly identified the interests at stake – by referring explicitly to the applicant's right to respect for his private life – and also the applicable legal principles (see paragraphs 28 and 30 above). In particular, the Court of Appeal made express reference to the principles of necessity, purpose specification, transparency, legitimacy, proportionality and security set forth in Directive 95/46/EC, and pointed out that the monitoring of internet use and of electronic communications in the workplace was governed by those principles (see paragraph 30 above). The domestic courts also examined whether the disciplinary proceedings had been conducted in an adversarial manner and whether the applicant had been given the opportunity to put forward his arguments.

132. It remains to be determined how the national authorities took the criteria set out above (see paragraph 121) into account in their reasoning when weighing the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence against the employer's right to engage in monitoring, including the corresponding disciplinary powers, in order to ensure the smooth running of the company.

133. As to whether the applicant had received prior notification from his employer, the Court observes that it has already concluded that he did not appear to have been informed in advance of the extent and nature of his employer's monitoring activities, or of the possibility that the employer might have access to the actual content of his messages (see paragraph 78 above). With regard to the possibility of monitoring, it notes that the County Court simply observed that “the employees' attention had been drawn to the fact that, shortly before the applicant's disciplinary sanction, another employee had been dismissed” (see paragraph 28 above) and that the Court of Appeal found that the applicant had been warned that he should not use company resources for personal purposes (see paragraph 30 above). Accordingly, the domestic courts omitted to determine whether the applicant had been notified in advance of the possibility that the employer might introduce monitoring measures, and of the scope and nature of such measures. The Court considers that to qualify as prior notice, the warning from the employer must be given before the monitoring activities are initiated, especially where they also entail accessing the contents of employees' communications. International and European standards point in this direction, requiring the data subject to be informed before any monitoring activities are carried out (see paragraphs 38 and 43 above; see also, for a comparative-law perspective, paragraph 53 above).

134. As regards the scope of the monitoring and the degree of intrusion into the applicant's privacy, the Court observes that this question was not examined by either the County Court or the Court of Appeal (see paragraphs 28 and 30 above), even though it appears that the employer recorded all the applicant's communications during the monitoring period in real time, accessed them and printed out their contents (see paragraphs 17 and 21 above).

135. Nor does it appear that the domestic courts carried out a sufficient assessment of whether there were legitimate reasons to justify monitoring the applicant's communications. The Court is compelled to observe that the Court of Appeal did not identify what specific aim in the present case could have justified such strict monitoring. Admittedly, this question had been touched upon by the County Court, which had mentioned the need to avoid the company's IT systems being damaged, liability being incurred by the company in the event of illegal activities in cyberspace, and the company's trade secrets being disclosed (see paragraph 28 above). However, in the Court's view, these examples can only be seen as theoretical, since there was no suggestion that the applicant had actually exposed the company to any of those risks. Furthermore, the Court of Appeal did not address this question at all.

136. In addition, neither the County Court nor the Court of Appeal sufficiently examined whether the aim pursued by the employer could have been achieved by less intrusive methods than accessing the actual contents of the applicant's communications.

137. Moreover, neither court considered the seriousness of the consequences of the monitoring and the subsequent disciplinary proceedings. In this respect the Court notes that the applicant had received the most severe disciplinary sanction, namely dismissal.

138. Lastly, the Court observes that the domestic courts did not determine whether, when the employer summoned the applicant to give an explanation for his use of company resources, in particular the internet (see paragraphs 18 and 20 above), it had in fact already accessed the contents of the communications in issue. It notes that the national authorities did not establish at what point during the disciplinary proceedings the employer had accessed the relevant content. In the Court's view, accepting that the content of communications may be accessed at any stage of the disciplinary proceedings runs counter to the principle of transparency (see, to this effect, Recommendation CM/Rec(2015)5, cited in paragraph 43 above; for a comparative-law perspective, see paragraph 54 above).

139. Having regard to the foregoing, the Court finds that the Court of Appeal's conclusion that a fair balance was struck between the interests at stake (see paragraph 30 above) is questionable. Such an assertion appears somewhat formal and theoretical. The Court of Appeal did not explain the specific reasons linked to the particular circumstances of the applicant and his employer that led it to reach that finding.

140. That being so, it appears that the domestic courts failed to determine, in particular, whether the applicant had received prior notice from his employer of the possibility that his communications on Yahoo Messenger might be monitored; nor did they have regard either to the fact that he had not been informed of the nature or the extent of the monitoring, or to the degree of intrusion into his private life and correspondence. In addition, they failed to determine, firstly, the specific reasons justifying the introduction of the monitoring measures; secondly, whether the employer could have used measures entailing less intrusion into the applicant's private life and correspondence; and thirdly, whether the communications might have been accessed without his knowledge (see paragraphs 120 and 121 above).

141. Having regard to all the above considerations, and notwithstanding the respondent State's margin of appreciation, the Court considers that the domestic authorities did not afford adequate protection of the applicant's right to respect for his private life and correspondence and that they consequently failed to strike a fair balance between the interests at stake. There has therefore been a violation of Article 8 of the Convention.