Bundesverfassungsgericht - Decisions - Data retention unconstitutional in its present form
14.08.20, 10:44
Bundeskriminalamt ) of 25 December 2008 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 3083) and various provisions under
Land law meanwhile make reference to § 113a TKG and thus make it possible for the competent
authorities to avail themselves of the data stored according to this provision.
However, it was possible even before the entry into force of § 113a TKG to consult telecommunications
traffic data stored in a permissible manner for the prosecution of criminal offences, to ward off danger or to
perform intelligence-service duties. For example, § 100g.1 StPO as amended by Article 1 of the Act
Amending the Code of Criminal Procedure (Gesetz zur Änderung der Strafprozessordnung ) of 20
December 2001 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 3879; hereinafter: § 100g StPO, old version) provided for an
obligation of the service providers to give information on telecommunications connection data, on the
basis of a judicial order, where there was a suspicion of a criminal offence of substantial importance or of a
criminal offence committed by means of a telecommunications terminal device. In the same manner, for
example Article 34b.2 no. 1 of the Act on the Duties and Competences of the Bavarian State Police
(Gesetz über die Aufgaben und Befugnisse der Bayerischen Staatlichen Polizei (Bavarian Police Duties
Act – Polizeiaufgabengesetz ; hereinafter: BayPAG)) as amended by the Act Amending the Bavarian
Police Duties Act and the Parliamentary Control Panel Act (Gesetz zur Änderung des
Polizeiaufgabengesetzes und des Parlamentarischen Kontrollgremium-Gesetzes ) of 24 December 2005
(Bavarian Law and Ordinance Gazette (GVBl) p. 641) or § 8a.1 sentence 1 no. 4 of the Act Regulating the
Cooperation between the Federation and the Federal States in Matters Relating to the Protection of the
Constitution and on the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Gesetz über die
Zusammenarbeit des Bundes und der Länder in Angelegenheiten des Verfassungsschutzes und über das
Bundesamt
für
Verfassungsschutz
(Federal
Act
on
Protection
of
the
Constitution
–Bundesverfassungsschutzgesetz ; hereinafter: BVerfSchG) as amended by the Act Amending the
Counter Terrorism Act (Gesetz zur Ergänzung des Terrorismusbekämpfungsgesetzes ) of 5 January 2007
(Federal Law Gazette I p. 2) provided authorisations to retrieve information on existing
telecommunications connection data to ward off danger or to perform duties of the authority for the
protection of the constitution.
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bb) It is true that § 113b.1 half-sentence 2 TKG excludes, in principle, the use of the data stored pursuant
to § 113a TKG for other purposes than those mentioned in § 113b sentence 1 half-sentence 1 TKG.
However, it admits of an exception to the effect that they may also be used by the service providers to give
information pursuant to § 113 TKG.
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§ 113.1 TKG permits authorities to retrieve what is known as customer and contract data pursuant to
§§ 95 and 111 TKG, in particular of telephone numbers, line identifications and names and addresses of
line owners. § 113b 1 half-sentence 2 TKG thus makes it possible for the service providers to give
information concerning the owners of what is known as “dynamic” Internet protocol addresses (hereinafter:
IP addresses). According to the present state of development, IP addresses are, as a general rule, not
permanently assigned to a line as so-called “static” IP addresses but are only assigned to the respective
Internet user as dynamic IP addresses for the duration of the respective access to the Internet. Information
about the owner of a line from which a particular dynamic IP address has been used at a particular point in
time can therefore only be given if the traffic data can be evaluated which provide information about the
line to which the IP address in question was assigned at the material time. This is made possible by
§ 113b sentence 1 half-sentence 2 TKG with regard to the data stored according to § 113a TKG.
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According to the prevalent view, traffic data were permitted to be used to give information about the
owners of dynamic IP addresses pursuant to §113.1 TKG even before the entry into force of §§ 113a and
113b TKG (see for example Stuttgart Regional Court (Landgericht – LG), order of 4 January 2005 – 13 Qs
89/04 –, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift – NJW 2005, p. 614 (614-615); Hamburg Regional Court, order
of 23 June 2005 – 1 Qs 43/05 –, MultiMedia und Recht – MMR 2005, p. 711 (712-713); Sankol, MMR
2006, p. 361 (365); a different view is held by the Bonn Regional Court, order of 21 May 2004 – 31 Qs
65/04 –, Datenschutz und Daten – DuD 2004, p. 628 (628-629); the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court
(Oberlandesgericht – OLG), judgment of 4 December 2008 – 4 U 86/07 –, MMR 2009, p. 412 (413-414);
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