28 MAKARATZIS v. GREECE JUDGMENT deter the commission of offences against the person, backed up by lawenforcement machinery for the prevention, suppression and punishment of breaches of such provisions. 58. As the text of Article 2 itself shows, the use of lethal force by police officers may be justified in certain circumstances. Nonetheless, Article 2 does not grant a carte blanche. Unregulated and arbitrary action by State agents is incompatible with effective respect for human rights. This means that, as well as being authorised under national law, policing operations must be sufficiently regulated by it, within the framework of a system of adequate and effective safeguards against arbitrariness and abuse of force (see, mutatis mutandis, Hilda Hafsteinsdóttir v. Iceland, no. 40905/98, § 56, 8 June 2004; see also Human Rights Committee, General Comment no. 6, Article 6, 16th Session (1982), § 3), and even against avoidable accident. 59. In view of the foregoing, in keeping with the importance of Article 2 in a democratic society, the Court must subject allegations of a breach of this provision to the most careful scrutiny, taking into consideration not only the actions of the agents of the State who actually administered the force but also all the surrounding circumstances, including such matters as the planning and control of the actions under examination (see McCann and Others, cited above, p. 46, § 150). In the latter connection, police officers should not be left in a vacuum when performing their duties, whether in the context of a prepared operation or a spontaneous chase of a person perceived to be dangerous: a legal and administrative framework should define the limited circumstances in which law-enforcement officials may use force and firearms, in the light of the international standards which have been developed in this respect (see, for example, the “United Nations Force and Firearms Principles” – paragraphs 30-32 above). 60. Against this background, the Court must examine in the present case not only whether the use of potentially lethal force against the applicant was legitimate but also whether the operation was regulated and organised in such a way as to minimise to the greatest extent possible any risk to his life. 61. In view of the recent enactment of Law no. 3169/2003, the Court notes that, since the facts giving rise to the present application, the Greek State has put in place a reviewed legal framework regulating the use of firearms by police officers and providing for police training, with the stated objective of complying with the international standards for human rights and policing (see paragraphs 25 and 27 above). 62. At the time of the events in issue, however, the applicable legislation was Law no. 29/1943, dating from the Second World War when Greece was occupied by the German armed forces (see paragraph 25 above). That statute listed a wide range of situations in which a police officer could use firearms without being liable for the consequences. In 1991 a presidential decree authorised the use of firearms in the circumstances set forth in the 1943 statute “only when absolutely necessary and when all less extreme