Release:
2020, Vol. 6. № 3 (23)About the author:
Evgeniya V. Gerasimova, Cand. Sci. (Jur.), Head of the Department of International and European Law, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad); EGerasimova@kantiana.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-2255-0578Abstract:
The development of digital technologies affects the legal status of an individual. The task of constitutional justice is the constitutional interpretation of new legal phenomena such as the right to be forgotten. This article aims to analyze the right to be forgotten in the decisions of the Russian Constitutional Court and German Constitutional Court in a comparative aspect.
The research methodology is primarily a dialectical method. This method helps the author to identify the content of the right to be forgotten, as well as to determine its role in relation to other constitutionally significant values.
The comparative legal method is of particular importance for achieving the objectives of the research and helps to highlight the general and specific in the approaches of the courts to the concept of this right. This approach distinguishes the novelty of this research in comparison with other papers. The use of the dialectical and comparative legal research methods allows drawing the following conclusions.
The distinctive feature of the right to be forgotten is its dualistic nature. On the one hand, this is a civil right associated with the right to privacy; on the other, it acts as a way to protect other constitutional rights (for example, the dignity of the individual). This right is not absolute. Some information may be of public interest. To resolve the issue of the prevailing constitutionally significant value in a particular case, the Russian Constitutional Court suggests using the method of finding a balance.
The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany emphasized that the right to free personal development and dignity sometimes prevails over freedom of information, especially considering the time factor in the case, as well as the degree of harm caused to a person by links to information posted on the Internet. The German Federal Constitutional Court, characterizing the legal relationship regarding the exercise of the right to be forgotten, highlights that this is a relationship between private subjects with fundamental rights, and refers to the concept of the horizontal effect of fundamental rights (“mittelbare Drittwirkung”) developed in German constitutional law.
This article concludes that the decisions of the Russian Constitutional Court and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany on the right to be forgotten are the guidelines for other courts, as well as the legislator for further improving legal regulation. Taking into account the development of information technologies, the author believes that the constitutional courts will more than once turn to the digital aspects of the legal status of an individual and, in particular, the concept of the right to be forgotten.
Keywords:
References:
Antopolsky A. A. 2019. “Human rights and the Internet: the practice of the European Court of Human Rights”. Proceedings of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 159-185. [In Russian]
Bondar N. S. 2019. “Information-digital space in the constitutional dimension: from the practice of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”. Journal of Russian law, no. 11, pp. 25-42. [In Russian]
Voinikanis E. A. 2016. “The right to be forgotten: legal regulation and its theoretical understanding”. Jurisprudence, no. 3, pp. 70-89. [In Russian]
RF Constitutional Court Decision of 26 November 2018 No. 3087-O “On refusal to accept for consideration the complaint of citizen K. for violation of his constitutional rights by paragraph 1 of Article 3 and Part 1 of Article 8 of the КА Federal Law ‘On Information, Information Technologies, and Protection information’”. Laws, Codes and Regulations of the Russian Federation. https://legalacts.ru/sud/opredelenie-konstitutsionnogo-suda-rf-ot-26112018-n-3087-o/ [In Russian]
RF Constitutional Court Decision of 12 February 2019 No. 274-O “On refusal to accept for consideration the complaints of Sergey Vitalievich Bezrukov on violation of his constitutional rights by paragraph 1 of Article 152.2 of the КА Civil Code”. Garant.ru: legal information portal. http://www.garant.ru/products/ipo/prime/doc/72092926/ [In Russian]
RF Constitutional Court Decision of 12 February 2019 No. 275-O “On refusal to accept for consideration the complaints of Anna Olegovna Bezrukova on violation of her constitutional rights by paragraph 1 of Article 152.1 and paragraph 1 of Article 152.2 of the RF Civil Code”. Laws, Codes and Regulations of the Russian Federation. https://legalacts.ru/sud/opredelenie-konstitutsionnogo-suda-rf-ot-12022019-n-275-o/ [In Russian]
RF Constitutional Court Decision of 26 March 2019 No. 849-O “On refusal to accept for consideration the complaint of the Regional Public Organization for the Promotion of Citizens’ Education ‘Information and Analytical Center “SOVA”’ on violation of constitutional rights and freedoms by Article 103 of the Federal Law ‘On Information, information technologies and information protection’, paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the RF Federal Law ‘On Amendments to the RF Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and the Protection of Information”’ and Articles 29 and 402 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation”. Laws, Codes and Regulations of the Russian Federation. https://legalacts.ru/sud/opredelenie-konstitutsionnogo-suda-rf-ot-26032019-n-849-o/ [In Russian]
Podrabinok E. M. 2019. “The features of the exercise of the right to be forgotten in the era of digitalization of society”. Perm legal almanac, no. 2, pp. 290-300. [In Russian]
RF Constitutional Court Judgment of 9 July 2013 No. 18-P “On the case of checking the constitutionality of the provisions of paragraphs 1, 5 and 6 of Article 152 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation in connection with the complaint of citizen E. V. Krylov. Garant.ru: legal information portal. http://www.garant.ru/hotlaw/federal/483161/ [In Russian]
Salikov M. S., Nesmeyanova S. E., Mochalov A. N., Kolobayeva N. E., Ivanova K. A. 2019. Human Rights on the Internet. Ekaterinburg: UMTs UPI. 148 pp. [In Russian]
Salikov M. S., Nesmeyanova S. E. 2019. “Human rights on the Internet: Peculiarities of Realization and Protection”. Rossiyskoye pravo: obrazovaniye, praktika, nauka, no. 1, pp. 5-13. [In Russian]
Soldatova V. I. 2020. “Protection of personal data in the context of the use of digital technologies”. Lex Russica, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 33-43. [In Russian]
RF Law of 27 July 2006 No. 149-FZ (as of 10 August 2020) “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”. KonsultantPlyus: legal reference system. http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_61798/ [In Russian]
Bundesverfassungsgericht: Judgement, First Division, 5 June 1973, BVerfGE 35. German Law Archive. 2013. Accessed 10 August 2020. https://germanlawarchive.iuscomp.org/?p=62
Bundesverfassungsgericht: Beschluss des Ersten Senats vom 06. November 2019 — 1 BvR 276/17. Accessed 10 August 2020. https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2019/11/rs20191106_1bvr027617.h...
Bundesverfassungsgericht: Beschluss des Ersten Senats vom 06. November 2019 — 1 BvR 16/13. Accessed 10 August 2020. https://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Entscheidungen/DE/2019/11/rs20191106_1bvr001613.h...
Terwangne C. 2013. “The Right to be Forgotten and the Informational Autonomy in the Digital Environment”. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Accessed 10 August 2020. http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC86750/jrc86750_cecile_fv.pdf
Voss W. G., Castets-Renard C. 2016. “Proposal for an international taxonomy on the various forms of the ‘right to be forgotten’: a study on the convergence of norms”. Colorado Technology Law Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 281-344. Accessed 10 August 2020. https://ctlj.colorado.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/v.3-final-Voss-and-Renard-5.24.16.pdf
