33. Limitation of Extending the Period of the Communication-Restricting Measures
its unconstitutionality for the invasion of privacy and
communication. The subject matter of this case is as followed.
secret
Provisions at Issue
The Protection of Communication Secrets Act (revised by Act No.
6546 on December 29, 2001)
Article 6 (Procedures for Authorization of Communication-Restricting
Measures for Criminal Investigation)
(7) The period of communication-restricting measures shall not
exceed 2 months and in the event that the objective of the
communication-restricting measures is attained during the period, such
communication-restricting measures shall be immediately discontinued:
Provided, That if the requirement for permission under Article 5 (1)
are still valid, a request for extending the period of communicationrestricting measures pursuant to paragraph (1) and (2) may be filed,
within the limit of 2 months and such request shall be appended by
material establishing a prima facie case.
Summary of the Decision
1. Court Opinion of 6 Justices
In permitting the extension of the period of communicationrestricting measures, the investigation purpose would be sufficiently
achieved even if the entire period of extension or numbers of times of
such measures are limited or such measures are suspended when
suspicion is not proved during the extended period because it is
possible to apply for the additional communication-restricting measures.
Because the court's control over the abuse of extension on the
duration of communication-restricting measures is limited, the judicial
control on the permission for extending the period of communicationrestricting measures cannot prevent the excessive invasion on privacy
to communication. Therefore, the instant provision violates the
principle of the least restriction because the instant provision did not
establish the least standard to prevent the abuse of the permission of
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