Balancing Privacy and the Public Interest: The Application of the ‘General Measures’ Doctrine in L.B. v Hungary in the Absence of any Substantive Proportionality Assessment

" On 9 March 2023, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights delivered its judgment in L.B. v Hungary, a case that scrutinized the Hungarian government’s policy of publicly disclosing the personal data of taxpayers in debt. By ruling in favor of the applicant and criticizing the insufficient parliamentary review of this policy, the Court not only highlighted significant flaws in the domestic legal process but also extended its controversial ‘general measures’ doctrine, raising important questions about the implications of its evolving jurisprudence on privacy rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights."

Harriet Ní Chinnéide