The Principle of Proportionality as a Method of Limiting the Privacy of Public Officials

It is unquestionable that people performing public functions are entitled to much narrower range of privacy protection than the so-called private persons, because of voluntarily holding a public office, the right of citizens to public information as well as the necessity of preserving transparency and openness of public life. Thus, the principle of proportionality should refer to foremost needs connected with proper functioning of public institutions, and not only to the status of people performing public functions as citizens. How- ever, it is important to underscore that intrusion into privacy of the people of this category should be justified, every time, on grounds of a direct connection between their functioning in the sphere of private life and the function (office) performed for the state and the public good. The issue of reducing privacy of the people performing public functions requires presenting the premises of the principle of proportionality determining the restrictions in exercising the constitutional rights and liberties. The considerations in this paper will allow to analyse the solutions of the Constitutional Tribunal examining the compliance with the Constitution of statutory legal regulations which constitute an intrusion in the right to privacy of people performing public functions in view of their meeting the premises of suitability, necessity and proportionality in the strict sense in reference to the imposed limitations.