Repeal of Hungarian Communications Act Gets Amicus Support

Open Rights Group, Privacy International and internationally renowned experts file amicus curiae briefs with the Hungarian Constitutional Court in a case to repeal the country's communications act.

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union has brought a case against two major service providers to the Hungarian Constitutional Court in an effort to repeal the Hungarian Electronic Communications Act. The case is supported by amicus briefs from Open Rights Group, Privacy International and a group of internationally renowned experts.

The submissions focus on the importance of EU law and why Hungarian law does not comply with it. In particular, Open Rights Group and Privacy International emphasize: the carefully calibrated EU rules in the field of data retention and data protection; the importance of the retention of "communications data" or "metadata"; the seriousness of data retention as an interference with human rights; and the need for effective remedies in national legal systems to address breaches of EU law.

The final ruling of the Hungarian Constitutional Court is expected in one month.

The amicus brief of ORG and PI can be read here.

The amicus brief of the group of international scholars can be read here.

Share

Related articles

Pegasus case: HCLU takes coordinated domestic and foreign legal action

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) is taking legal action on behalf of six of its clients before the Hungarian authorities, the European Commission, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and in Israel. The organisation aims to expose the practice of unlawful secret surveillance, to have international fora declare that the Hungarian regulation of secret information gathering violates fundamental rights and to prevent politically motivated abuses.

Read more »

NGOs Reject "Safe Harbor 2.0," Urge EU and US to Protect Fundamental Rights

Leading human rights and consumer organizations have issued a letter to urge the US and the EU to protect the fundamental right to privacy.

Read more »

Call for urgent amicus briefs!

In April 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) declared invalid the Data Retention Directive that unified the rules of the retention of selective data by Internet and telephone services and determined the accessibility of data by authorities in the member states. Despite the content of the judgment, the Hungarian act allowing data retention is still in force. In October, 2014 the HCLU started litigation against two major service providers in order to force the Hungarian Constitutional Court (CC) to repeal the unlawful act.

Read more »