22 April 2024
On Monday, 22 April 2024, within the framework of the Council of Europe's joint project with the Constitutional Court of Ukraine "Support to development of constitutional justice in Ukraine", implemented within the framework of the third phase of the joint programme of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Partnership for Good Governance" (Phase III), a round table discussion on the protection of personal data in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as Bodies of constitutional jurisdiction of the Council of Europe member states, was held with the participation of representatives of the Council of Europe.
The Ukrainian side was represented by Acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhiy Holovaty, judges of the Court Viktor Gorodovenko, Viktor Kychun, Vasyl Lemak, Oleh Pervomaiskyi, Galyna Yurovska and representatives of the Court's Secretariat.
At the beginning of the event, the Acting Chief Justice of the Court welcomed the participants and expressed gratitude to the international partners for their consistent support of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Serhiy Holovaty stressed that the holding of such expert talks strengthenes the capability of the body of constitutional review to apply the best European practices in its activities. He underscored that the Court commenced to study the personal data protection in 1997. Serhiy Holovaty noted that solving the mentioned problem in constitutional proceedings, the Court had delivered 5 decisions on these issues since that time.
The Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Maciej Janczak and Head of Unit, Division for Cooperation Programmes, Department for the Implementation of Human Rights, Justice and Legal Cooperation Standards, Council of Europe Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law Mariana Chicu addressed the participants of the round table.
Maciej Janczak on behalf of the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe Office welcomed the participants of the event, noting the importance of the chosen topic, which is relevant and useful for Ukrainian partners. He noted Ukraine's aspiration to achieve the highest standards of the Council of Europe in the field of human rights, rule of law and democracy despite the full-scale aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine. In this context, the Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine stressed the important role of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
He said that the Council of Europe has been cooperating with Ukraine for 20 years, and in 2022, the Council of Europe offered Ukraine a special assistance package, including the exclusion of russia from the organisation and the preparation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine for 2023-2026 "Resilience, Recovery and Rebuilding". This is the largest action plan in the history of the organisation, the speaker stressed, and currently contains about 30 projects in various fields to help Ukraine on its path to EU membership.
Concluding his speech, Maciej Janczak noted that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine plays a unique role in shaping the issues of human rights protection and their limitations. Therefore, this event is a part of the conceptual discussion on striking a balance between the protection of human rights and state security.
Mariana Chicu also emphasised that despite the difficult times, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine considers the issue of personal data protection as an important aspect in the context of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration.
Dmytro Tretyakov, Lawyer of the European Court of Human Rights, Deputy Registrar of the Administrative Tribunal of the Council of Europe, made a presentation on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union on personal data protection (from the perspective of constitutional jurisdiction, with a focus on data verification and legal standards and practice of the single database).
Anatolii Kodynets, Dr., Head of Intellectual Property and Information Law Department at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, national consultant of the project, spoke on the topic of personal data protection in constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine in the light of the best practices of the Council of Europe member states.
During the round table, the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took an active part in the professional discussion of these issues. They thanked the Council of Europe for the opportunity to cooperate to improve constitutional justice in Ukraine.
