Mosley asks to appeal European Court ruling on prior notification

Max Mosley, the Formula One motor racing boss, said he is appealing against a decision by the ECHR not to impose requirements on media editors to tell people when they plan to run stories about their private lives.

Mosley had argued that current UK laws violated the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantee a person's right to a private life. The Convention also guarantees the right to freedom of expression. The Court said in its ruling last month that forcing editors to tell subjects about stories before publishing them would have a "chilling effect" on journalism.

Mosley has now asked the Grand Chamber, the ECHR's highest authority, to consider his appeal.

“Privacy has been the subject of considerable public and media debate in the last month and a ruling from the Grand Chamber of the Court is needed upon this important issue to close a clear gap in UK law,” Mosley's lawyers said in a statement.

In 2008 the UK High Court ordered the News of the World (NotW) to pay £60,000 in damages to Mosley after it published a newspaper article and an online video which the court said violated Mosley's right to privacy.

Mosley had paid women to spank him in what the NotW claimed was a Nazi themed orgy. Mosely is the son of Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British fascists in the 1930s and 1940s.

Mosley disputed the Nazi claims and argued that the 'party' was private. The Court found that the NotW had not proved the Nazi link, and therefore there was no public interest in the publication of what he said were details of a private matter.

“Despite the Court’s ‘severe criticisms’ of the News of the World, this and other tabloid newspapers could use the same techniques tomorrow to obtain and publish intimate photographs and details of the sex lives of individuals, without notice and in the knowledge that it is wholly unlawful," Mosley's lawyers said.

Newspapers do not inform people about stories beforehand because they are concerned that people will take out court injunctions to prevent publication, Mosley said.

"The newspaper ... conceals its intention to publish because it wishes to prevent [people] from seeking and obtaining an injunction," Mosley said in papers submitted to the Grand Chamber to consider his appeal.

"The newspaper knows that, once the information is published, very few victims will sue for damages, because that will guarantee further adverse publicity and very considerable expense, even if the proceedings should succeed," Mosley said.

Publishers should be fined for not giving prior notice to people they print stories about, Mosley said.

The Grand Chamber of the ECHR only hears appeals in exception circumstances and has still to decide whether Mosley's case should be re-examined.

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