The case was brought by would-be police cadet Marie-Eleni Kalliri, whose application to join the academy for the 2007-8 year was turned down on grounds of height. Photo: AFP file

 

LUXEMBOURG: The EU´s top court ruled Wednesday that Greek police had discriminated against women by setting a minimum height requirement for police cadets regardless of ***.

The Greek police academy´s rule that all applicants, male or female, must be at least 1.70 metres (five feet seven inches) tall unfairly disadvantaged women, the European Court of Justice said.

The case was brought by would-be police cadet Marie-Eleni Kalliri, whose application to join the academy for the 2007-8 year was turned down on grounds of height.

Her claim went up to Greece´s top administrative court, which sought the opinion of the Luxembourg-based ECJ.

"A law that lays down, as a criterion for admission to a police school, a minimum height requirement irrespective of *** may constitute unlawful discrimination against women," the court said.

The ruling, which is binding on all 28 EU members, suggested that a physical aptitude test would be a better and fairer way to assess candidates for police tasks that required strength.

The ECJ said the rule would not amount to discrimination if it could be proved it was necessary to the proper functioning of the police force.

"While it is true that certain police functions may require the use of physical force requiring a particular physical aptitude, the fact remains that other functions, such as providing assistance to citizens or traffic control, do not clearly require the use of significant physical force," the court said.

"Even if all the functions carried out by the Greek police required a particular physical aptitude, it would not appear that such an aptitude is necessarily connected with being of a certain minimum height."