The PJ will have to validate with a judicial authority, within 48 hours, blocking actions considered urgent for internet content classified as terrorist threats,
The decision was approved today at a meeting of the Constitutional Affairs Committee.
The requirement for the country’s criminal police force to get this green light – first with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, then, if necessary, with a judge – was proposed by the PSD, backed by CHEGA. PS Socialists on the committee abstained, while IL (Liberal Initiative) voted against.
The PSD’s proposal was aimed at resolving doubts about the constitutionality of a government law that aims to transpose into national law a European directive on combating the dissemination of terrorist content.
In the initial version of the bill, the government gave the PJ the power to block or suppress the dissemination of content considered terrorist on the internet, without prior intervention by the judicial authority. But opinions from the Superior Council of Magistrates, the Superior Council of Public Prosecutors and the National Data Protection Commission all pointed to constitutional concerns raised by the fact that the government was handing the power to block and delete content to a criminal police body, without prior intervention by a judge.
At the time, IL’s (then leader) Rui Rocha said: “‘We understand the threats to security, but the state’s adaptation to the new reality of terrorism does not mean dispensing with the control of the judiciary. These are complicated times for freedom of expression. As a liberal, I always start from a principle of distrust of the state”.
On that basis, Portugal is ensuring that the state does not take precedence over Constitutional Law.
Source material: LUSA
