Asociaţia Accept v. Consiliul Naţional pentru Combaterea Discriminării, Case C‑81/12, CJEU (Third Chamber), 25 April 2013

Public statements ruling out the recruitment of a footballer presented as being homosexual. Direct discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Directive 2000/78/EC of the Council of 27 November 2000

1. Articles 2(2) and 10(1) of Directive 2000/78 must be interpreted as meaning that Public statements ruling out the recruitment of a footballer presented as being homosexual are capable of amounting to facts from which it may be presumed that there has been discrimination as regards a professional football club, even when the statements concerned come from a person presenting himself and being perceived in the media and among the general public as playing a leading role in that club without, however, necessarily having legal capacity to bind it or to represent it in recruitment matters.

2. Where facts from which it may be inferred that there has been discrimination within the meaning of that directive have been established, the effective application of the principle of equal treatment requires that the burden of proof should fall on the defendants concerned, who must prove that there has been no breach of that principle.  In order to rebut the non-conclusive presumption that may arise under the application of Article 10(1) of Directive 2000/78, it is unnecessary for a defendant to prove that persons of a particular sexual orientation have been recruited in the past, since such a requirement is indeed apt, in certain circumstances, to interfere with the right to privacy.