Constitutional Court, "Restrict Family Relationship Access if Direct Family Member is a Domestic Violence Perpetrator"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the legal provision allowing any direct blood relative to request a family relation certificate and verify personal information is unconstitutional.

On the 28th, the Constitutional Court issued a unanimous decision of constitutional inconsistency in a constitutional complaint filed by domestic violence victim A, who argued that Article 14 of the Act on the Registration of Family Relations, which allows any direct blood relative to request a family relation certificate, infringes on the right to self-determination of personal information. Constitutional inconsistency means that although the law violates the constitution, its effect is temporarily recognized to allow for legislative amendment when immediate suspension would cause confusion.

A suffered domestic violence from her spouse and divorced, but when her ex-spouse violated a restraining order and continued to threaten her, she tried to change her name to prevent her address from being known. However, she realized that even after changing her name, her ex-spouse could obtain a family relation certificate under the child's name and discover her personal information as the custodian.

Accordingly, A claimed that the failure to enact a provision restricting the issuance of family relation certificates based on the child to prevent a domestic violence perpetrator ex-spouse from obtaining them constitutes an "unconstitutional legislative omission."

The Constitutional Court held that personal information of other family members should not be disclosed solely because they are family, and that measures are needed to prevent abuse and leakage. However, it emphasized the need to prepare alternative measures, such as allowing issuance if the domestic violence perpetrator obtains prior consent from the child or specifically proves there is no unfair purpose such as additional harm.

Furthermore, the court ordered that since the law in question would prevent direct blood relatives who are not domestic violence perpetrators from obtaining family relation certificates if declared unconstitutional, the law must be amended by December 31, 2021.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.