가사소송에서의 사생활 등 보호를 위한 절차보장

Procedural Guarantees for the Protection of Privacy, etc. in Domestic Litigation

Domestic litigation often involves family disputes, it is inherently closely related to the highly sensitive private lives of the parties involved and other interested parties. Accordingly, the draft amendment to the Family Litigation Act establishes a new provision on the principle of privacy protection (Article 3 of the amendment) and sets out specific requirements for hearing in private in court proceedings through a decision (Article 30 of the amendment). The amendment included new media outlets subject to the restriction on publication of court proceedings, citing the potential for greater impact when reporting domestic affairs through new media outlets, such as information and communications networks, than through printed materials (Article 23 of the amendment). The recently revised Civil Procedure Act established a legal basis for courts to take personal information protection measures when there is a justifiable risk of harm to the life or body of a party involved in the litigation (Article 163, Paragraph 2 of the Civil Procedure Act). This also applies to domestic litigation, but there is a limitation that the court cannot make decisions on personal information protection measures on its own motion. Furthermore, the exclusive jurisdiction over matrimonial actions under the Family Litigation Act is rigid and inadequate in protecting victims of domestic violence. In family mediation, the voluntariness of the process and equality of bargaining power are crucial. Therefore, the family court should play a major role in screening domestic violence cases that will be recognized as exceptions to the mandatory family mediation.