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WEBER AND SARAVIA v. GERMANY DECISION
B. Relevant domestic law and practice
1. The Basic Law
14. The Basic Law provides for the following fundamental rights, in so
far as relevant:
Article 5
Right to freedom of expression
“(1) Everyone shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in
speech, writing and pictures and to obtain freely information from generally
accessible sources. Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting on the radio and in
films shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship.
(2) These rights shall be subject to the limitations laid down by the provisions of the
general laws and by statutory provisions aimed at protecting young people and to the
obligation to respect personal honour.”
Article 10
Secrecy of mail, post and telecommunications
“(1) Secrecy of mail, post and telecommunications shall be inviolable.
(2) Restrictions may be ordered only pursuant to a statute. Where such restrictions
are intended to protect the free democratic constitutional order or the existence or
security of the Federation or of a Land, the statute may provide that the person
concerned shall not be notified of the restriction and that review by the courts shall be
replaced by a system of scrutiny by agencies and auxiliary agencies appointed by the
people’s elected representatives.”
Article 19
Restriction on basic rights
“...
(4) If a person’s rights are violated by a public authority, he may have recourse to
the courts. If no other jurisdiction has been established, the civil courts shall have
jurisdiction. Article 10 § 2, second sentence, remains unaffected by this paragraph.”
15. The separation of legislative powers between the Federation and the
Länder is laid down in Articles 70 et seq. of the Basic Law. Pursuant to
Article 70 § 1 the Länder, in principle, have the right to legislate in so far as
the Basic Law does not confer legislative power on the Federation. Such
legislative power is conferred on the Federation, in particular, in Article 73:
“The Federation shall have exclusive power to legislate [ausschließliche
Gesetzgebungskompetenz] on:
1. foreign affairs and defence, including the protection of civilians;
...”