The Supreme Administrative Court rejected the cassation appeal against the judgment of the Provincial Administrative Court, which declared the ineffectiveness of the transfer of the PESEL register to Poczta Polska in April 2020 by the Minister of Digitalization. The case was related to the future postal elections in May 2020.
Information about the ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court rejecting the cassation appeal in this case was posted on the online docket of this court on Wednesday. The President of the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, Mirosław Wróblewski, also informed PAP of this ruling.
The Warsaw Provincial Administrative Court’s February 2021 ruling was upheld in its entirety. The Supreme Court has rejected Poczta Polska’s cassation appeal. The appeal in cassation from the Ministry of Digitalization has now been withdrawn
– told PAP Wróblewski, who worked at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in 2007-2024 and was there, among other things. director of the Constitutional, International and European Law team.
This case was brought before the administrative courts by the previous Ombudsman, Adam Bodnar, and in the background there were planned correspondence elections on May 10, 2020.
On April 22, 2020, the then Minister of Digitalization, Marek Zagórski, provided Poczta Polska with personal data from the PESEL register about Polish citizens who came of age on May 10, 2020 and whose country of residence is Poland.
The ministry’s explanation to the Commissioner for Human Rights revealed that citizens’ data was stored on a DVD and password protected.
The CD was handed over to a person representing Poczta Polska after his identity was verified. The package was supervised by Poczta Polska. The password for the data on the drive was not sent with the drive, but via a separate communication channel
– the ministry announced at the time.
The data provided includes first and last name, PESEL number and – depending on what data the person has registered in the PESEL register – current registered address for permanent residence, and in the absence thereof, last registered address for permanent residence, as well as the registered address address for temporary residence..
The minister also responded in this case that he “has received such a request from the Post Office and has provided the data on the basis of the special Covid law.”
In May 2020, the Commissioner for Human Rights appealed to the administrative court against this action by the minister. The provincial administrative court ruled in the case on February 26 this year. and found this action ineffective.
As the court subsequently noted, at the date of the contested act, the Post Office had no power of its own to organize the elections for the President of the Republic of Poland, for which the information provided by the Minister was necessary. .” As the Provincial Administrative Court added, the authority’s action in making the data available to the post office “was therefore defective.”
In its cassation complaint, the post office stated, among other things, that the provincial administrative court had conducted a “completely incorrect analysis” and that the provisions on voting by mail were not in force on the date of the post office’s request. access to data is not important in this case.
In turn, the Ombudsman reiterated in his response to the Post Office’s complaint in June 2021 that the basis justifying the transfer of data could only be the Law on Special Rules for the Holding of General Elections for the President of the Republic of Poland, which into effect “only on May 9, 2020”. The Ombudsman has therefore requested that the cassation appeal be dismissed.
This is not the only case before administrative courts in connection with the future correspondence elections scheduled for May 2020. In September 2020, the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw – also following a complaint from the Commissioner for Human Rights – ruled that the Prime Minister’s decision Poczta Polska’s obligation to prepare presidential elections by letter was a gross violation of the law.
According to the provincial administrative court, Morawiecki’s decision was contrary to, among other things, the Constitution, the Electoral Act, the Council of Ministers Act and the Administrative Code. The provincial administrative court stated that the constitution and other laws do not grant the prime minister the power to organize general elections. This judgment remains invalid. The Supreme Court has not yet heard the cassation appeal in this case.
Last December The Sejm adopted a resolution on the appointment of an investigative committee to investigate the legality of the 2020 elections for the President of the Republic of Poland in the form of postal voting; its creation was unanimously supported by parliamentarians. This committee is already carrying out its work and witness hearings are taking place.
tkwl/PAP
Source: wPolityce