3. Anonymization of Court Decision in the Eu: Actual and Comparative Issues

Abstract

As the Charter of Fundamental Rights establishes the right to data protection as a separate right for privacy, the Regulation on Data Protection aims mainly at finding  balance between the right to data protection and freedom of expressions. Also, it aims at creating the uniform legal environment of data protection in all Member States. The Regulation on Data Protection is applicable to the judicial authority, however with certain exceptions. The Regulation on Data Protection remains silent on the requirement to anonymize courts decisions. However, the Regulation on Data Protection give the single definition of personal data for all EU, and we assume that it can standardize the data which is anonymized in court decisions. The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of the EU Regulation on Data Protection to the rules on anonymization of court decisions in Lithuania. The research led us to the conclusion that in Lithuania the existing regulation on the anonymization of the decisions of courts does not reach its aim. Lithuanian rules on anonymization of courts decisions require anonymizing all courts decisions by default. This requirement shows that Lithuania gives the highest priority to the protection of privacy but not the freedom of expression. However, the aim of the anonymization is not reached while the Lithuanian rule requires anonymizing the exhaustive list of personal data, which includes not all data by which directly or indirectly the person can be identified.