State obliged to justify decisions based on automated data processing, CoS rules
Civil administration is obliged to provide explanations on decisions for individuals that are based on automated processing of data, the Council of State (CoS) ruled on Tuesday.
The decision issued by a section of Greece’s highest adminstrative court said that regardless of whether a state administrator used an automated data processing partially or fully for an individual decision, explaining its conclusion “is a fundamental element of the rule of law” and honors the principle of transparency and legality of civil administrative action.
Additionally, the CoS cited the Code of Administrative Procedure, which rules that an individual administrative decision must always be justified. A ministry is obligated to outline the key stages of mathematical calculations it used and the variables it took into account. This will allow an individual to determine if the legal conditions were met, and a judge to exercise effective judicial review, the court said.
CoS dismissed the ministries that argued that a justification of administrative actions based on automated processing of data cannot possibly be provided, “since it is not possible to doubt the scientific credibility of the whole process.”
According to media reports, the issue arose when a lawyer’s application for EU-related (National Strategic Reference Framework) funding as a freelance professional was rejected. She resorted to the CoS, asking it to revoke the decision of the signatory ministries.
