Decision No. 2014-693 DC of 25 March 2014 – Law (project) on geolocalization
- 2014
- France
Topics
Public securityLegal bases
France: Code of Criminal Procedure (Code de procédure pénale) France: Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de 1789)Courts
Constitutional Council (Conseil constitutionnel), FranceLaws
Right to respect for private and family life Right to propertyFacts
Opposition MPs referred certain elements of the geolocation l to the CC on constitutionality.
Legal grounds
First, the Council monitored the violations of the right to privacy and inviolability of property by geolocalization. Secondly, it examined articles 230-40 to 230-42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the procedural file. It monitored the conformity of these provisions with Article 16 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, which guarantees respect for the rights of the defence and the adversarial principle.
Findings
The Constitutional Council has ruled that the executive power has surrounded the implementation of geolocalization with measures to ensure that, under the authorization and control of the judicial authority, restrictions on constitutionally guaranteed rights are necessary to establish the truth and are not disproportionate to the gravity and complexity of the offences committed.