A case has been initiated with regard to the compliance of the procedure, in which biological material of suspects is collected and information on suspected persons is included and stored in the National DNA Database, with the Satversme
On 5 June 2015 the 4th Panel of the Constitutional Court initiated the case “On the Compliance of Para 2 and Para 6 of Section 1, Section 4, Section 10, Section 18(1) of Law on Development and Use of the National DNA Database, as well as Para 2 and Para 13 of the Cabinet of Ministers Regulation of 23 August 2005 No. 620 “The Procedure of Providing Information to be Included in the National DNA Database, as well as the Procedure for Collecting Biological Material and Biological Trace”, insofar as these apply to persons suspected, with Article 96 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia.”
The Contested Norm
The contested regulation establishes the procedure, in which biological material of suspected persons is collected and information on suspected persons and their DNA profile are included and stored in the National DNA Database.
The Norm of Higher Legal Force
Article 96 of the Satversme: “Everyone has the right to inviolability of his or her private life, home and correspondence.”
The Facts
The case been initiated on the basis of an application submitted by Lato Lapsa. The applicant has been recognised as a suspect in criminal proceedings. In compliance with the contested regulation, the applicant, as a suspect, was subject to the procedure for collecting biological material in order to include information on him and his DNA profile into the National DNA Database. The applicant holds that the legitimate aim of the restriction upon fundamental rights could have been achieved by measures less restrictive upon the suspects’ rights to private life.
Legal Proceedings
The Constitutional Court has invited the institutions, which adopted the contested acts, – the Saeima and the Cabinet of Ministers – to submit to the Constitutional Court a written reply on the facts of the case and the legal substantiation by 5 August 2015.
The term for preparing the case is 5 November 2015. The Court shall decide on the type of procedure and the date for hearing the case after the case has been prepared.
Linked case: 2015-14-0103