D. Extradition, immigration and deportation
19. The decision to extradite, remove or exclude a person from a country where he
or she has close relatives or has established a private life through work or study,
may constitute an interference with their private and family life.817
E. Privacy, Policing and Surveillance
20. The reality is that interferences with privacy rights are at the heart of any
effective policing strategy. As such how to lawfully interfere with privacy and
data protection, has to be understood.
21. The European Court case of Klass v. Germany, emphasised
‘the danger such a law poses of undermining or even destroying democracy
on the ground of defending it, affirms that the Contracting States may not, in
the name of the struggle against espionage and terrorism, adopt whatever
measures they deem appropriate. The Court must be satisfied that, whatever
system of surveillance is adopted, there exist adequate and effective
guarantees against abuse. This assessment has only a relative character: it
depends on all the circumstances of the case, such as the nature, scope and
duration of the possible measures, the grounds required for ordering such
measures, the authorities competent to permit, carry out and supervise such
measures, and the kind of remedy provided by the national law’.818
22. ‘Stop and search’ procedures engage the right to respect for private life. The
European Court has held that it is not permissible to search a person unless
there is a reasonable suspicion of their involvement in wrongdoing. 819
23. Once an individual is being formally investigated by a law enforcement agency
on suspicion of having committed a crime, respect for their private life is almost
certainly engaged. Private life will be a relevant factor to be taken into account
once information about an individual is stored and processed. Sharing of
information on individuals is also an interference with privacy rights, which if it
is to be lawful, must be justified.
24. All forms of covert policing and surveillance will engage the right to respect for
private life including e.g. CCTV schemes where any images are recorded,
processed and stored;820 collecting samples such as fingerprints and DNA; 821
and policing methods, such as entrapment.822
25. As regards more specifically telephone tapping, the law should:
817
European Court, Mehemi v France, 26 September 1997.
Klass v. Germany; Leander v. Sweden, 26 March 1987.
819
European Court, Gillan and Quinton v UK, 28 June 2010.
820
European Court, Peck v UK, 28 January 2003.
821
European Court, Murray v UK, 28 October 1994.
822
European Court, Texiera de Castro v Portugal, 9 June 1998.
818
133
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents