Ukraine’s Finance Ministry may get access to bank secrecy

The activists have appealed to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko with the request to veto the bills that may violate the right to privacy allowing the Finance Ministry to get access to bank secrecy and personal data.

This is stated in the appeal, signed by over a dozen NGOs.

December 24, 2015, the Parliament of Ukraine passed the bill on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine (regarding financial stabilization of the state and improvement of certain provisions of the social policy) and the bill on amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine (regarding coordination between the Budget Code and the amendments to industry-specific and tax legislation).

The activists in their appeal say that the bills were passed by the Parliament almost without discussion despite the fact that the provisions on disclosure of bank secrecy and personal data had been given negative conclusions of the Main Scientific Expert Commission.

Privacy as well as disclosure of personal data is protected in the national legislation not only by the specialized law on personal data protection but by Article 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to which ” The collection, storage, use, and dissemination of confidential information about a person without his or her consent shall not be permitted, except in cases determined by law, and only in the interests of national security, economic welfare, and human rights.”

“The general abstract purpose like ‘financial stabilization of the country’ cannot be a legitimate reason for tough and unlawful restriction on the right to privacy, the disclosure of bank secrecy, and access to personal data without consent of a person,” reads the statement.

The violations of order of passing of those bills are also indicated in the appeal.