Measures pursuant to § 20g section 1 sentence 1 number 2, § 20l section 1 sentence 1 number 2 and § 20m section 1 number 2 Federal
Criminal Police Office Act may only be ordered if the conditions set
out in § 20k section 1 sentence 2 of the Federal Criminal Police Office
Act, in the interpretation in conformity with the Basic Law as set out in
the reasons of this decision, are fulfilled.
The further use of data pursuant to § 20v section 4 sentence 2 of the
Federal Criminal Police Office Act or the transfer of data pursuant to §
20v section 5 and § 14 section 1 of the Federal Criminal Police Office
Act is permissible only in cases of imminent danger when data from
the surveillance of private homes is concerned (§ 20h of the Federal
Criminal Police Office Act); and only in cases of a specific impending
danger to the relevant legal interests when data stemming from remote searches of information technology systems is concerned (§ 20k
of the Federal Criminal Police Office Act).
5. The constitutional complaint of complainant no. 4 in the proceedings 1
BvR 966/09 is rendered moot by his death.
6. For the rest, the constitutional complaints are rejected as unfounded.
7. The Federal Republic of Germany shall reimburse the complainants’
necessary expenses incurred in the course of the constitutional complaint proceedings.
R e a s o n s:
A.
I.
The constitutional complaints are directed against the provisions of the Federal
Criminal Police Office Act (Bundeskriminalamtgesetz – BKAG) inserted as Sub-Title
3a by the Act on Prevention by the Federal Criminal Police Office of Threats from International Terrorism of 25 December 2008 (Federal Law Gazette, Bundesgesetzblatt – BGBl I p. 3083), effective 1 January 2009. On the basis of Art. 73 sec. 1 no.
9a of the Basic Law (Grundgesetz – GG) (BGBl I p. 2034), created for this purpose in
2006, the federal legislature assigned the Federal Criminal Police Office tasks extending beyond its previous law enforcement duties, reaching into the domain of the
protection against threats from international terrorism, a task hitherto reserved solely
for the Laender (federal states). An additional subject-matter of the constitutional
complaints is the previously existing provision in the Federal Criminal Police Office
Act on the transfer of data to third countries, the scope of which has been extended
by the newly attributed powers.
6/71
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