30 BOSPHORUS HAVA YOLLARI TURİZM VE TİCARET ANONİM ŞİRKETİ v. IRELAND JUDGMENT II. SUBMISSIONS CONCERNING ARTICLE 1 OF THE CONVENTION AND ARTICLE 1 OF PROTOCOL No. 1 107. The applicant company maintained that the manner in which Ireland had implemented the sanctions regime to impound its aircraft was a reviewable exercise of discretion within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention and a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. The Government disagreed, as did the third parties with the exception (in part) of the Institut de formation en droits de l'homme du barreau de Paris. The Court considers it clearer to set out the submissions made to it in the order followed below. A. The Government 1. Article 1 of the Convention 108. The Convention must be interpreted in such a manner as to allow States Parties to comply with international obligations so as not to thwart the current trend towards extending and strengthening international cooperation (see Waite and Kennedy v. Germany [GC], no. 26083/94, § 72, ECHR 1999-I, and Beer and Regan v. Germany [GC], no. 28934/95, § 62, 18 February 1999). It is not therefore contrary to the Convention to join international organisations and undertake other obligations where such organisations offer human rights protection equivalent to the Convention. This principle was first outlined in M. & Co. v. the Federal Republic of Germany (no. 13258/87, Commission decision of 9 February 1990, Decisions and Reports (DR) 64, p. 138) and was then endorsed in Heinz v. the Contracting Parties also parties to the European Patent Convention (no. 21090/92, Commission decision of 10 January 1994, DR 76-A, p. 125). 109. The critical point of distinction for the Government was whether the impugned State act amounted to an obligation or the exercise of a discretion. If, on the one hand, the State had been obliged as a result of its membership of an international organisation to act in a particular manner, the only matter requiring assessment was the equivalence of the human rights protection in the relevant organisation (the “M. & Co. doctrine” described above). If, on the other hand, the State could as a matter of law exercise independent discretion, this Court was competent. Contrary to the applicant company's submission, Matthews v. the United Kingdom ([GC], no. 24833/94, ECHR 1999-I), Cantoni v. France (judgment of 15 November 1996, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-V) and Hornsby v. Greece (judgment of 19 March 1997, Reports 1997-II), had no application to the present case, as they were concerned with discretionary decisions available to, and taken by, States.