News Metadata Law - Declaration of unconstitutionality 18/05/2022

Following the request for successive abstract inspection of some articles of the so-called Metadata Law, presented by the Ombudsman, Judgment 268/2022 was handed down on 04.19.2022 by the Constitutional Court.

In view of the rulings of the Constitutional Court, doubts do not subsist as to the retroactivity of the effects of the declaration of unconstitutionality, which takes effect on the date of entry into force of the rule deemed unconstitutional (17.07.2008).

Such retroactivity will lead to the reopening of criminal proceedings, in the context of which the metadata was an essential element in the conviction, and the decisions rendered therein may be changed.

If fate is written about the past, and now it is necessary, on a case-by-case basis, to analyse the repercussions that such unconstitutionality entails; for the future, it is urgent to fill the gap resulting from such a declaration of unconstitutionality, which can only be done by the legislature.

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