The Second Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at its plenary session on April 19, 2023 delivered the Decision in the case upon the constitutional complaint of Serhii Syrotenko regarding the conformity of specific provisions of Article 171.9.2, Article 246.5.4 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine with the Constitution of Ukraine.
The subject of the right to constitutional complaint believes that, in view of his disagreement with the indication of his place of residence and the registration number of the taxpayer's registration card in court decisions, the courts did not have sufficient grounds to indicate these data in such decisions, since, in his opinion, this “did not pursue a legitimate aim and was not necessary in a democratic society”, as the case files “provide for an adequate amount of information and written evidence for the purposes of identifying the applicant, including in the aspect of execution of the court decision”. He emphasises that as a result of the application of the disputed provisions of the Code by the courts, “interference in his personal life took place and his right to personal (private) life guaranteed by Article 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine was violated”.
Therefore, by this Decision, the Court recognised as conforming to the Constitution of Ukraine (constitutional) specific provisions of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine of:
- Article 171.9.2 “or place of residence (for individuals)”;
- Article 246.5.4 “or place of residence or stay (for individuals)”, “registration number of the tax payer's registration card of the parties (for individuals), if available”.
When delivering the decision, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took into account its own legal positions, international human rights acts and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the positions of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia, which relate to the principles of personal data protection.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine notes that in specific provisions of Article 171.9.2, Article 246.5.4 of the Code, the legislator defined restrictions on the implementation of the constitutional right to the inviolability of personal and family life in the form of a requirement to indicate in court decisions the place of residence or stay of the parties (for natural persons) and the registration number of the tax payer’s registration card of the parties (for natural persons), if available, effectively establishing in this way the possibility of collecting, storing, using and distributing information about natural persons by the courts, by which it is possible directly or indirectly to identify such persons without their consent. These restrictions are legitimate if they are established by the disputed provisions of the Code only in the interests of national security, economic well-being, human rights and they correspond to the principle of reasonableness applied to assess the legality of state interference in human rights, and do not violate the essence of the constitutional right to the inviolability of personal and family life.
In this case, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine connects the evaluation of the legality of the state's interference with the specified constitutional right regarding the establishment of the requirement to indicate the personal data of the parties in court decisions in accordance with the disputed provisions of the Code with one of the exceptions defined by Article 32.2 of the Constitution of Ukraine – “in the interests <...> of human rights”. The protection, affirmation and implementation of human rights require, first of all, ensuring the realisation of the right to judicial protection, as well as compliance with the basic principles of judicial proceedings, including the constitutional requirement for the binding nature of a court decision.
Evaluating the purpose of adopting certain provisions of Article 171.9.2, Article 246.5.4 of the Code, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine sees its legitimacy in increasing the effectiveness of judicial protection in Ukraine and streamlining the implementation of the constitutional right to judicial protection, in particular its component - rights to the execution of court decisions.
The Court's Decision states, in particular, that the use of personal data in administrative proceedings, such as the place of residence of the parties (for natural persons), is necessary for the unambiguous identification of the parties at the stage of initiating court proceedings and, above all, for the parties to exercise their procedural rights. Therefore, the requirement to indicate the place of residence of the parties (for natural persons) in the court ruling to initiate proceedings in the case, established by a specific provision of Article 171.9.2 of the Code, is necessary for a person to exercise the right to legal protection in general.
The indication of personal data in the final part of the court decision in accordance with the specific provisions of Article 246.5.4 of the Code is necessary in order to ensure the error-free and timely execution of the court decision, and the violation of this procedural requirement can significantly complicate or even make it impossible to execute it in due to the fact that the executor will not be able to uniquely identify the debtor.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine notes that the disputed provisions of the Code are consistent with the universally recognised principles of personal data protection, rule of law, minimality, anonymity, and justice. These provisions of the Code do not establish the possibility of processing the personal data of the parties specified by them for purposes other than the effective performance of the tasks of administrative proceedings (that is, the purposes for which these data were provided to the courts). Such personal data as the place of residence or stay of the parties (for natural persons) and the registration number of the tax payer's registration card of the parties (for natural persons), if available, are the minimum amount of information required to ensure legal protection and mandatory execution of court decisions. The specified personal data cannot be anonymous, at least in view of the basic principles of administrative proceedings and the principles of judicial jurisdiction. The requirement to indicate personal data in court decisions is established by the disputed provisions of the Code, and does not cause excessive interference in the personal life of the parties.
In view of the above, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the disputed provisions of the Code to be constitutional.
