It isn't a protection applied to civil cases, just to criminal cases.
That's not strictly true.
Allen v UK
25424/09
From the Grand Chamber...
*snipped*
2. The Court’s assessment
(a) General principles
(i) Introduction
92. The object and purpose of the Convention, as an instrument for the protection of human beings, requires that its provisions be interpreted and applied so as to make its safeguards practical and effective (see, inter alia, Soering v. the United Kingdom, 7 July 1989, § 87, Series A no. 161, and Al‑Skeini and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 55721/07, § 162, ECHR 2011). The Court has expressly stated that this applies to the right enshrined in Article 6 § 2 (see, for example, Allenet de Ribemont v. France, 10 February 1995, § 35, Series A no. 308, and Capeau, cited above, § 21).
93. Article 6 § 2 safeguards the right to be “presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law”. Viewed as a procedural guarantee in the context of a criminal trial itself, the presumption of innocence imposes requirements in respect of, inter alia, the burden of proof (see Barberà, Messegué and Jabardo v. Spain, 6 December 1988, § 77, Series A no. 146, and Telfner v. Austria, no. 33501/96, § 15, 20 March 2001); legal presumptions of fact and law (see Salabiaku v. France, 7 October 1988, § 28, Series A no. 141‑A, and Radio France and Others v. France, no. 53984/00, § 24, ECHR 2004‑II); the privilege against self-incrimination (see Saunders v. the United Kingdom, 17 December 1996, § 68, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996‑VI, and Heaney and McGuinness v. Ireland, no. 34720/97, § 40, ECHR 2000‑XII); pre-trial publicity (see Akay v. Turkey (dec.), no. 34501/97, 19 February 2002, and G.C.P. v. Romania, no. 20899/03, § 46, 20 December 2011); and premature expressions, by the trial court or by other public officials, of a defendant’s guilt (see Allenet de Ribemont, cited above, §§ 35-36, and Nešťák v. Slovakia, no. 65559/01, § 88, 27 February 2007).
94. However, in keeping with the need to ensure that the right guaranteed by Article 6 § 2 is practical and effective, the presumption of innocence also has another aspect. Its general aim, in this second aspect, is to protect individuals who have been acquitted of a criminal charge, or in respect of whom criminal proceedings have been discontinued, from being treated by public officials and authorities as though they are in fact guilty of the offence charged. In these cases, the presumption of innocence has already operated, through the application at trial of the various requirements inherent in the procedural guarantee it affords, to prevent an unfair criminal conviction being imposed.
Without protection to ensure respect for the acquittal or the discontinuation decision in any other proceedings, the fair-trial guarantees of Article 6 § 2 could risk becoming theoretical and illusory. What is also at stake once the criminal proceedings have concluded is the person’s reputation and the way in which that person is perceived by the public. To a certain extent, the protection afforded under Article 6 § 2 in this respect may overlap with the protection afforded by Article 8 (see, for example, Zollman v. the United Kingdom (dec.), no. 62902/00, ECHR 2003‑XII, and Taliadorou and Stylianou v. Cyprus, nos. 39627/05 and 39631/05, §§ 27 and 56-59, 16 October 2008).
