Keeping the verdict on the court's website, even in anonymized form, after the rehabilitation of the convict may cause a violation of the right to protection of personal data, the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information (AZLP) has determined.
The AZLP Council said that, in order to harmonize and adequately implement regulations in the field of personal data protection, in the area of publishing court judgments and the right to rehabilitation of convicted persons, they have launched an initiative with the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court to delete the decisions of rehabilitated persons.
As they stated, although verdicts published on official court websites are previously anonymized, in practice there are cases where, using combined data and publicly available sources, subsequent identification of persons is enabled.
This, the AZLP Council added, is especially evident after final rehabilitation, when a person, in accordance with the law, is considered unconvicted and enjoys the right to have all data that could lead to the identification of a former convict deleted.
"In this regard, the Agency has determined that retaining the verdict on the court's website, even in anonymized form, after rehabilitation has occurred may cause a violation of the right to the protection of personal data, especially when it is misused for the purpose of public discrediting," the statement said.
The AZLP Council said that it is necessary to consider establishing clear and mandatory procedures for the timely removal of judgments from court websites after rehabilitation occurs, in order to ensure full respect for the right of individuals to be forgotten, or to have data deleted in accordance with applicable regulations.
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