"RELATING TO CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE LAWS ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES IN EDUCATION IN BELGIUM" v. BELGIUM (MERITS) JUDGMENT 55 3. Arguments presented before the Court by the Belgian Government and by the Commission 23. Before the Commission, the Belgian Government maintained that Section 17 of the Act of 30th July 1963, and in particular its fourth paragraph, violates neither Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) nor Articles 8 and 14 (art. 8, art. 14) of the Convention. While its principal argument was that the Articles (P1-2, art. 8, art. 14) were totally inapplicable (cf. supra), it presented a series of subsidiary arguments. It observed, in the first place, that the criterion of the maternal or usual language is much more simple, flexible and liberal than the Applicants contend. A child whose language is French runs no risk of being denied admission to the French classes of Greater Brussels, even if he has begun his schooling in Flanders and in Dutch. In this respect, the Act of 30th July 1963 differs from that of 14th July 1932 on one point only: it creates "two legal presumptions" based respectively on "the language in which the child was previously taught" (second paragraph of Section 17) and on the language of the region where his parents live (fourth paragraph). These presumptions may, however, be "rebutted by a declaration by the father of a family". As regards the language inspectorate, it does not function with the strictness alleged by the Applicants; its objectivity is further guaranteed through the appeals provided for by the legislation in force (Section 18 of the Act of 30th July 1963, Royal Decree of 30th November 1966, on the functioning of the language inspectorate and Act of 23rd December 1946 creating a Conseil d’État in Belgium). Consequently abuses ascribable to "punctilious officials" occur only rarely. Moreover, the Applicants are not entitled to complain thereof to the Commission until they have "sought a remedy" before the competent "national tribunal". Before the Court, the Belgian Government referred expressly to the opinion of the Commission on the point in question. Moreover it emphasised that children whose mother tongue or usual language is, for example, German, rather than French or Dutch, "can enrol in a Frenchlanguage school in the Greater Brussels district as well as in a Dutchlanguage school". It added that "schools in the Greater Brussels district that provide some special education" given in one language only may admit pupils whose mother tongue is not the language of instruction, even if their parents reside outside the district. It is sufficient, in such a case, that it is impossible for them to receive "the education in question in their own linguistic region" (Ministerial circular of 10th October 1963). 24. The Commission, confirming before the Court the unanimous opinion formulated by it in this matter in its Report, considers that Section 17 of the Act of 30th July 1963 does not infringe any of the three Articles (P1-2, art. 8, art. 14) invoked by the Applicants. As far as concerns Article 2 of the Protocol (P1-2) and Article 8 (art. 8) of the Convention, viewed in isolation, its opinion is based on considerations summarised above. Neither