iii. Foreseeability

To be foreseeable, a legal basis must be formulated with sufficient precision to enable an individual to regulate his conduct. The individual must be able, if needs be with professional and expert advice, to foresee, to a degree that is reasonable in the circumstances, the consequences which a given action may entail. Those consequences need not be foreseeable with absolute certainty: experience shows this to be unattainable. Again, whilst certainty is highly desirable, it may bring with it excessive rigidity, whereas the law must be able to keep pace with changing circumstances. Accordingly, many laws are inevitably couched in terms which, to a greater or lesser extent, are vague and whose interpretation and application are questions of practice.

In assessing whether the criterion of foreseeability is satisfied, account may also be taken of instructions or administrative practices which do not have the status of substantive law, in so far as those concerned are made sufficiently aware of their contents.¹⁶⁷⁴

As to the governing instruments of the Communications Regulatory Agency, the Human Rights Chamber held that the criterion of foreseeability was satisfied since the Independent Media Commission, i.e., the Communications Regulatory Agency, formulated the regulations with sufficient precision and, based on its experience, made them available to the broadcasters, including the applicant.¹⁶⁷⁵