e) § 24(2) first sentence of the Federal Intelligence Service Act in con- 315
junction with § 19(3) of the Federal Protection of the Constitution Act
f) General assessment; documentation
319
3. Cooperation with foreign intelligence services pursuant to §§ 13 to 15 320
of the Federal Intelligence Service Act
a) General requirements
321
b) Use of search terms determined by foreign services
322
c) Automated data sharing
323
4. Oversight
324
VII. Art. 5(1) second sentence of the Basic Law
325
F. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
326
G. Legal consequences
327
I. Declaration of incompatibility with the Basic Law on grounds of violation 327
of fundamental rights
II. No declaration of voidness, continued applicability, time limit
329
III. Decision on expenses
332
Reasons:
A.
The constitutional complaint challenges the statutory provisions authorising the
Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst – BND) to carry out surveillance of foreign telecommunications, to share the intelligence thus obtained with domestic and foreign bodies and to cooperate with foreign intelligence services in this
context. Insofar as they concern cooperation and the surveillance of telecommunications, the challenged provisions were inserted into the Federal Intelligence Service
Act (Gesetz über den Bundesnachrichtendienst – BNDG) of 20 December 1990 (Federal Law Gazette, Bundesgesetzblatt – BGBl I p. 2954, 2979), last amended by Art.
4 of the Act to Adapt Data Protection Law to Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and to Implement Directive (EU) 2016/680 of 30 June 2017 (Gesetz zur Anpassung des Datenschutzrechts an die Verordnung (EU) 2016/679 und zur Umsetzung der Richtlinie
(EU) 2016/680; BGBl I p. 2097), through the Act on the Surveillance of Foreign
Telecommunications by the Federal Intelligence Service (Gesetz zur Ausland-Ausland-Fernmeldeaufklärung des Bundesnachrichtendienstes) of 23 December 2016
(BGBl I p. 3346), which entered into force on 31 December 2016. The law was
amended in response to findings and discussions in the First Committee of Inquiry of
the 18th German Bundestag (NSA-Untersuchungsausschuss, Committee of Inquiry
15/87
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