2024-09-22 05:37:26
Hesse’s Constitutional Protection Act itself violates parts of the constitution. Germany’s highest court has criticized it.
Hesse must once again improve its Constitutional Protection Act. Several regulations that deal with the collection and transmission of data are incompatible with the Basic Law, as the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in a ruling published in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. They violate general personal rights. These include regulations on cell phone tracking and the use of undercover employees.
The Constitutional Protection Act was only amended in Hesse last year, after the court had already declared the Bavarian law partially unconstitutional in 2022. In this ruling, it established principles that apply to all federal states and which the Office for the Protection of the Constitution must adhere to.
However, the new version of 2023 in Hesse also violates informational self-determination, as the judges have now decided. They objected above all to the fact that the intervention threshold at which, for example, cell phones can be located using technical means is not sufficient.
According to the decision, the regulations will continue to apply temporarily until the end of 2025, although in some cases with restrictions. A regulation dealing with the transfer of data to law enforcement authorities was partially declared invalid.
The constitutional complaint of five complainants was thus partially successful. According to the court, two of them are members of an organization that the Hessian Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies as left-wing extremist.
Two others represent people who are being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as lawyers. Another complainant is a journalist and says he often has professional contact with people who are probably being monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
The complaint was supported by the Society for Civil Rights (GFF), among others. On Tuesday, the Society spoke of a “success for fundamental rights”. Now “the Hessian legislature must make adjustments,” explained GFF procedural coordinator David Werdermann.
The constitutional complaint was originally directed against the Hessian Police Act. In February last year, the court ruled that data processing by the police must be restricted.