Judgment concerning Poland
In the case of Pietrzak and Bychawska-Siniarska and Others v. Poland the Court held that there had been three violations of the right to respect for private and family life and correspondence.
The case concerned a complaint by five Polish nationals about Polish legislation authorising a system for secret surveillance and the retention of telecommunications, postal and digital communications data for potential use by the relevant national authorities. They alleged that there was no remedy available under domestic law allowing persons who believe that they have been subjected to secret surveillance to complain about that fact, and to have its lawfulness reviewed.
The Court held that all the shortcomings identified by it in the operational-control regime led to a conclusion that the national legislation did not provide sufficient safeguards against excessive recourse to surveillance and undue interference with individuals’ private life; the absence of such guarantees was not sufficiently counterbalanced by the current mechanism for judicial review.