The Constitutional Court Decided that the Right to An Effective Remedy Regarding Personal Data Has Been Violated

With the application number 2018/6161 and dated June 28, 2022 Constitutional Court Decision has been published in the Official Gazette No. 32049 on December 20, 2022, it has been concluded that the right to effective remedy, which is a positive obligation that must be carried out and assumed by the public authorities, has been violated.

The applicant had applied to the relevant telecommunication company for internet data, log records, IMEI information, hot spot date information and IP numbers received jointly with other subscribers belonging to his telephone line and containing a certain date range to be given to himself, and the request was not accepted by the relevant company. In the suit filed thereon, the local court decided to dismiss the case from the procedure, no positive results have been obtained from the legal remedy applied.

The Constitutional Court examined the alleged violation of the right to effective recourse linked to the right to request the protection of personal data within the scope of the right to respect for private life due to the failure of the state to fulfill its positive obligations in the case filed to allow the person to access the personal data belonging to him/her.

In the Constitutional Court judgment, it is stated that the failure to examine the merits of the dispute in the case, which could have ensured that the applicant could benefit from constitutional guarantees, rendered an effective remedy that existed useless and that the right of effective recourse linked to the right to request the protection of personal data within the scope of the right to respect for private life protected by the Constitution had been violated.

You can access relevant Official Gazette from here (In Turkish).

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