2022-10-31
Court Rules Forced Urine Sampling Unconstitutional
On October 14, 2022, Taiwan's Constitutional Court ruled that Article 205-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which allows police to collect urine specimens of an accused person/suspect to be used as criminal evidence unconstitutional, unless they have obtained written permission signed by a public prosecutor. It is in conflict with Article 22 of the Constitution which guarantees people's privacy and the right not to be subject to physical and mental harm.
The Court rendered this judgement because the legal provision authorizes unpermitted non-consensual urine specimen collection without specifying its urgency. It does not require ex post facto supervision from the public prosecutor and does not provide a remedy for the individual subjected to such measure—which consequently fails to satisfy the requirement of due process in the protection of information privacy and freedom of bodily and mental damage.
According to the Court, said provision shall be amended in two years. Before the article is amended, police are not allowed to force a urine test against the accused/ suspect without first obtaining permission from prosecutors unless in case of urgency. In such cases of urgency, police must seek the retroactive approval of prosecutors within 24 hours of the test being taken.
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