Venice Commission: Swift Adoption of Amendments to Laws on Special Investigation Service and Protection of Personal Data Violates International Standards

In its opinion of December 15 -16, 2023, on the amendments to the laws on the Special Investigation Service (SIS) and the provisions of the Law on the Protection of Personal Data (PDPS), the Venice Commission notes that the adoption of the amended laws in a short period of time, without substantive discussion and pluralistic participation in the debate, is contrary to international standards. In this regard the Commission recommends “following rigorously the principles of transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, and democratic debate in the law-making process, and where necessary making amendments to legislation, Parliamentary procedures or rules to incorporate these standards”.

Also, the Venice Commission finds the dismissal of the former State Inspector and her deputies at odds with the principle of the rule of law, and notes: “to exclude such situations in future, effective remedies shall be put in place, including in respect of parliamentary procedures”.

Among the Venice Commission’s recommendations are the following:

Reporting powers of the SIS and the PDPS

• To introduce the possibility for both services to issue and publish special reports whenever they find it appropriate.

Exclusion of high ranking official for the jurisdiction of the SIS

• To modify Article 6(1)(4) of the amended SIS Law and Article 403 (4) of the amended PDP Law by replacing “majority of votes” with “votes of the majority of the members”.
• To regulate by legislation or by equivalent statutory instrument the rules and procedures governing the commission, and the process by which candidates are to be selected.
• To address all other recommendations made in the section on the selection and appointment procedures of this Opinions.

Selection and appointment procedures of the Heads of the SIS and PDPS

• To revise the jurisdiction of the SIS to encompass crimes related to serious human rights violations allegedly committed by high-ranking officials; and to provide that the offenses mentioned in Article 19(1)(d) of the amended SIS Law will be investigated by the SIS solely if allegedly perpetrated by representatives of law enforcement bodies;
• To assign the decision-making authority on whether a particular crime aligns with the ECHR rights to the SIS; and specifying that offences under Article 19(1)( e) of the amended SIS law will be investigated by the SIS solely if allegedly perpetrated by representatives of law enforcement bodies.

Monitoring of covert investigative measures

• To give the SIS competence to carry out a follow-up function to monitor covert investigative measures, in close coordination with the PDPS (with exception of the investigative measures carried out by the SIS itself);
• To specify the meaning of “imposing an administrative liability” in Article 40(14) of the PDPS provisions, to make clear that the PDPS has power to fine controllers or processors for violating data protection law;
• To address also all other issues reported in the section on the specific PDPS provisions.

Also Read:

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• 30/12/2021 – Georgian Dream Abolishes State Inspector’s Service

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