Human Rights assessment
171.The COTIF provisions of this Act are considered to be compatible with the ECHR. One particular effect of the COTIF provisions of this Act, and the regulations which may be made under those provisions, will be to ensure that certain dangerous goods may not be carried by rail. It is considered that where this interferes with a person’s economic interests in running a business (protected by Article 1 of the First Protocol), this prohibition may be justified on general public interest grounds. The prohibition also goes towards ensuring that the UK upholds the Article 8 right to respect for a person’s home which right could otherwise be affected by environmental blight or pollution from the carriage of those goods.