Betænkning 601 om privatlivets fred - straffelovsrådet 1971 - Krim

The Criminal Law Council was set up in
1960 as a permanent consultative body in
matters relating to criminal law. The Council
is composed as follows:
Professor Stephan Hurwitz, LL.D., Parliamentary
Commissioner (»ombudsman«),
Chairman;
Professor Knud Waaben, LL.D., Vice-
Chairman;
Mr. Erik Andersen, President of the Eastern
High Court; and
Mr. H. Olafsson, Director of Public Prosecutions.
In the consideration of the question discussed
in this Report concerning the right
of privacy, the following experts on the law
of liability were co-opted to the Council:
Professor A. Vinding Kruse, LL.D.; and
Mr. H. Urne, High Court judge.
The permanent secretary to the Council,
Mr. L. Nordskov Nielsen, Director of Prison
Administration, took part in the discussions.
The work of the secretariat was discharged
by Mr. H. H. Brydensholt, Head of the
Criminal Law Division of the Ministry of
Justice.
The Criminal Law Council, which in this
Report has examined the possibilities, in
criminal law as well as in civil law, of extending
the protection of the right of privacy,
has had to limit the subject in various
respects. A number of problems which actually
are bound up with the protection of the
private life of the individual and the integrity
of personality are already being considered
by other bodies (EDP recording and
other forms of registration, the use of tape
recording as evidence, and questions relating
to criminal procedure). So the Criminal Law
90
SUMMARY
Council has been able to concentrate on the
cases where the appearance of the so-called
spy-equipment provides new opportunities
to private individuals, including the press,
for unduly disclosing matters appertaining to
the private affairs of other citizens.
Chapter I of the Report summarizes the
professional and political debate on the
problem.
Chapter II contains a brief technical
description of the socalled spy-equipment,
recounting the views of some experts on the
possibilities of preventing the circulation
(importation, sale, etc.) of such equipment.
Chapter III gives particulars on the rules
applying in a number of other countries. A
broad exposition of the trend of foreign law
is found in a survey prepared by Professor
A. Vinding Kruse, LL.D. (Annex 3 to the
Report).
The penal provisions in force (on the
secrecy of the mails, the peace of the home,
etc.) are examined in Chapter IV. Besides
citing the provisions in force and accounting
for their previous history, the Chapter gives
an interpretation of their content. In this
context, mention is made of a great number
of points in which it would be expedient
to bring their wording up to date.
The photography legislation is discussed
in Chapter V, which accounts for the views
underlying the fact that, unlike the corresponding
Norwegian law, the Danish law
on the right to photographic pictures contains
no rule which as a point of departure
prohibits the circulation of pictures of other
persons. The Criminal Law Council does not
recommend any rule on the right to one's
own picture to be included in the Danish