Lex Hungarorum

The petitioner challenged several provisions of the act on the healthcare data permitting the registration of healthcare data without the clear and prior consent of the patient, claiming that these provisions are in breach of privacy rights.

The Constitutional Court rejected most of the petitions based on systematic interpretation of the challenged act and the general data protection act, and concluded that the restrictions to privacy are justified and adequately safeguarded in the cases concerned.

However, the Court found unconstitutional - and against the right to the confidentiality of personal data - the provision that generally refers to the possibility of the transfer and joint management of healthcare and personal identity data on the grounds of 21 different reasons even if the case is not connected with the function of the healthcare and health insurance system. The Court found out that some of the reasons concerned are justifiable, but others - most notably the use of the data for "administrative procedure", "procedure for the enforcement of offences", "public prosecutor's procedure" and "court procedure" - are generally not, tough in some cases they still can be constitutional. Therefore the Constitutional Court used the tool of stating a constitutional requirement for the implementation of the given paragraphs to ensure that their application is restricted to reasons directly connected with the function of the healthcare and health insurance system.