Przestępstwo kradzieży tożsamości po zmianach wprowadzonych ustawą z 31 marca 2020 r. nowelizującej przepisy w sprawie COVID-19

The Act of March 31, 2020 changed, inter alia, the content of the provision of Art. 190 a § 2 of the Polish Criminal Code. In the original wording of this provision, conduct consisting of impersonating another person using his/her image or other personal data in order to inflict material or personal harm on her/ him was criminalized. Image is not an easy concept to define. It is assumed to include the appearance of a person and other externally perceptible features that allow for their identification. The concept of personal data has been defined in the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) as any information relating to an identifiable natural person. Currently, the legislator has introduced an additional element - 'other data by means of which it is publicly identified'. The legitimacy of introducing this characteristic and the way it was shaped raise doubts; in particular, the terms 'in public' and 'is identified'. Both the concept of image and personal data fall under the term 'other data'.