The Ombudsman resubmits petitions of the Commissioner for Data Protection to the Constitutional Court

Press release:

The Ombudsman resubmits petitions of the Commissioner for Data Protection to the Constitutional Court

Prof. Máté Szabó has requested the Constitutional Court to annul several provisions of rules of law because in his view they violate the right to the protection of personal data or the right to access data of public interest.

The Ombudsman has submitted petitions for the annulment of certain provisions of the Act on the Protection of Classified Data, the Act on the System of Criminal Records, the Act on the Registration of Judgements of the Courts of Member States of the European Union, the Act on the Registration of Biometric Data for Criminal and Law Enforcement Purposes, the Act on Criminal Procedure, and the Act on the National Security Services, because those provisions make possible a disproportionate restriction of the right to informational self-determination and to access data of public interest.

The Ombudsman does not challenge the provisions relating to the positive debtor list contained in the Act on the Central Credit Information System since in that respect the position of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights differs fundamentally from that of the Commissioner for Data Protection.

Although the Fundamental Law and the new Act on the Constitutional Court has significantly modified who may request the ex post review of rules of law for their conformity with the Fundamental Law, the Ombudsman still possesses this right. The Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has now made decisions on the petitions submitted by András Jóri before the cessation of his office, i.e. before the end of 2011. The Ombudsman, however, cannot be considered a legal successor for the submissions of the Commissioner for Data Protection, therefore it is not possible to maintain the petitions and continue the Constitutional Court proceedings, so the Ombudsman has proposed, acting within his own competence, to review the rules of law he considers to be contrary to the Fundamental Law

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