Constitutional courts discuss the right to privacy

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Published: March 18, 2024

"Protecting the right to privacy" was the title of the regional conference of the constitutional courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, which IRZ organised in Budva from 4 to 6 October 2023 in cooperation with the Constitutional Court of Montenegro with funding from the Federal Foreign Office.

The presidents of the Constitutional Courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valerija Galić, North Macedonia, Dobrila Kacarska, and Serbia, Snežana Marković, and the judge at the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, Snežana Armenko, held presentations on the relevant jurisdiction of their courts. The opening speech was given by the President of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, Budimir Šćepanović, and the responsible Head of Section at IRZ, Dr Stefan Pürner. The jurisdictionof the Federal Constitutional Court was presented by its former judge, Prof Dr Udo Steiner.

The different topics of the presentations showed how broad the life circumstances and legal issues are that fall under the term "right to privacy". This ranges from the right to informational self-determination and the requirements for surveillance of communications of suspects during investigation proceedings to the concept of gender and the constitutionality of an opt-out solution for organ transplants.

For the first time since the pandemic, this traditional regional conference was able to take place in person again and was characterised by intensive discussions, again far beyond the scheduled working hours, particularly on the latter two topics mentioned above. The opportunity for informal bilateral dialogue was used intensively in the margins of the conference.