The Criminalization of Violation of Privacy in the New Criminal Code

摘要

The criminalization of violation of privacy in Romanian criminal legislature represents a novelty element brought about by the new Criminal Code and comes as a natural result of the importance granted by the European Court of Human Rights to the protection of this right, whose content was developed by jurisprudential means so as to meet the technical and social developments. The right to privacy has already enjoyed an ample regulation within the Civil Code which came into force in 2011, even the legal remedies that the injured person has available in civil matters being regulated. Despite the civil protection of the right to privacy, the Romanian lawmaker felt the need to supplement this through its protection by other penal means. In this sense, in the new Criminal Code, art. 226 incriminates certain acts which constitute violations of privacy. These acts only cover certain facets of the right to privacy as it is defended in civil matters and interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, the lawmaker probably opted for criminal coercion only with regard to those facets showing an increased interest in the contemporary society, which poses the greatest risks both through the temptation of intrusion into the private lives of others, as well as through the prejudice caused, in order to appropriately prevent and sanction those acts. Thus, the lawmaker is closer to the European ideal of real and effective protection, and not theoretical and illusory, of the right to privacy.