occasion, extent and further requirements as to keeping the files. The complainants
re 1 have however not made this other law the subject-matter of their constitutional
complaint.
5. Only the complainants re 2 address § 7.2 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Constitution Protection Act. This provision empowers the constitution protection authority to
carry out acoustic and optical surveillance of dwellings. It dates from 1994, and was
not amended in the context of the revision of the Constitution Protection Act. Thought
was given to revising or deleting it, but this was ultimately postponed (see Landtag
document 14/2211, p. 16).
18
6. Finally, in turn only the complainants re 2 challenge the provisions contained in §
8.4 sentence 2 in conjunction with §§ 10 and 11 of the North Rhine-Westphalia Constitution Protection Act on keeping so-called electronic case files. All in all, these provisions provide that personal data contained in such case files may continue to be
stored if the constitution protection authority no longer has any investigative interest
in the specific person concerned. This is to ensure the completeness of the electronically maintained case file necessary for electronic document administration. The interests of data protection are accounted for in that the personal data concerned may
no longer be searchable, and also may not be used unrestrictedly.
19
7. The following excerpts from the Constitution Protection Act are of interest for the
instant proceedings:
20
§ 3 Tasks
21
(1) The task of the constitution protection authority shall be the collection and evaluation of information, in particular of factual and personal information, messages and
documents on
22
1. activities targeting the free democratic fundamental order, the continued existence or the security of the Federation or of a Land or an unlawful impairment of the
exercise of office by the constitutional bodies of the Federation or of a Land or of their
members,
23
2. activities for a foreign power which endanger security, or for a foreign security service,
24
3. activities which endanger foreign interests of the Federal Republic of Germany by
means of the use of force or preparatory acts aimed thereto,
25
4. efforts and activities targeting the ideal of international understanding (Article 9.2
of the Basic Law) or peaceful relations between nations (Article 26 of the Basic Law),
26
within the area of application of the Basic Law, insofar as there exist factual indications of the suspicion of such efforts and activities.
27
…
28
§ 5 Powers
8/60