Bundesverfassungsgericht - Decisions - Decision on the constitutionality of the 1983 Census Act

30.07.20, 15:50

The following abstract was prepared by the Federal Constitutional Court and submitted for publication to the
CODICES database maintained by the Venice Commission. Abstracts published by the Venice Commission
summarise the facts of the case and key legal considerations of the decision. For further information, please
consult the CODICES database.
Please cite the abstract as follows:
Abstract of the German Federal Constitutional Court’s Judgment of 15 December 1983, 1 BvR 209, 269, 362,
420, 440, 484/83 [CODICES]
When referring to the original decision, please follow the suggested form of citation for decisions of the
Court.

Abstract
First Senate
Judgment of 15 December 1983
1 BvR 209, 269, 362, 420, 440, 484/83
Headnotes:
1.
In the context of modern data processing, the general right of personality under Article 2.1 in conjunction
with Article 1.1 of the Basic Law encompasses the protection of the individual against unlimited collection,
storage, use and sharing of personal data. The fundamental right guarantees the authority conferred on the
individual to, in principle, decide themselves on the disclosure and use of their personal data.

2.
Limitations of this right to “informational self-determination” are only permissible if there is an overriding
public interest. They require a statutory basis that must be constitutional itself and comply with the principle of
legal clarity under the rule of law. The legislator must furthermore observe the principle of proportionality. It must
also put in place organisational and procedural safeguards that counter the risk of violating the general right of
personality.

3.
As for the constitutional requirements applicable in this regard, a distinction must be made between
personal data that is collected and processed as individualised information and not rendered anonymous, and
data intended for statistical purposes. Where data is collected for statistical purposes, it cannot be subjected to a
strict and specific purpose limitation (Zweckbindung). However, to compensate for this, the collection and
processing of such information must be subject to limitations within the relevant information system.

4.
The data collection framework of the 1983 Census Act (§ 2 nos. 1 to 7, §§ 3 to 5) does not amount to the
registration and cataloguing of one’s personality in a manner that is incompatible with human dignity; the relevant
provisions also satisfy the principles of legal clarity and proportionality. However, it is imperative that additional
procedural safeguards be put in place in order to ensure respect for the right to informational self-determination
in the implementation and organisation of the census data collection.

5.
The legal provisions governing the transfer of data under § 9.1 to 9.3 of the 1983 Census Act (concerning,
inter alia, the alignment of census data and civil registry records) violate the general right of personality. However,
the sharing of data for scientific purposes (§ 9.4 of the 1983 Census Act) is compatible with the Basic Law.

Summary:
I.

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