Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

The issue of personal data protection in DataLex judicial information system has been a matter of concern since 2012.

By the decision SJC-40-Ո-105 of 27 September 2018, the Supreme Judicial Council established that “depersonalization of personal data in a judicial act is carried out with a relevant computer program by manually depersonalizing the data (hiding or replacing the data) until a unified depersonalization software is introduced, after which depersonalization shall be done automatically”.

HCA Vanadzor examined judicial acts published on DataLex system and found out that depersonalization of data is not carried out. For example, in a number of judicial cases on involuntary hospitalization, the “Respondent” line is blank, but the “Claim” line shows the relevant person’s name and surname, thus disclosing that person’s identity.

Judicial acts’ depersonalization program has not been introduced so far, and in the conditions of judges’ workload and the volume of personal data being processed, it is impossible to ensure depersonalization of judicial acts without the appropriate software. Besides introducing depersonalization software, it is also necessary to solve the issue of removing personal data of judicial informative system already available to the public, since the aim pursued by publication of data in the “Judicial system” - namely, transparency of the judiciary and public awareness - is no longer in place within examined and completed cases, therefore, such information is also subject to removal. This approach is compliant with regulations of the right to have personal data removed (the right to be forgotten) as established in the international legal sphere of personal data protection. 

Thus, personal data should be processed in the judicial informative system to the minimum extent necessary to ensure publicity of procedural decisions and terms, as well as judicial acts, by guaranteeing depersonalization of the relevant data. 

Click HERE to read the full position of HCA Vanadzor (in Armenian).