Controversial law

The rows of seats in Germany's lower house, the Bundestag, were nearly empty on June 28 when deputies were called to vote on a new data registration law. 

Hardly surprising, as the vote coincided with the Euro 2012 soccer championship semifinals, with the German national team facing off against Italy. 

Accordingly, the bill was whisked through in record time: after 57 seconds and no debate at all, deputies had rubber-stamped a drastic reform concerning the sale of citizens' private data by local registration offices.

A German federalism reform in 2006, initiated to transfer certain responsibilities from the states to the federal government, necessitated new registration legislation. Rather than 16 different regulations on passing on citizen's data, there was to be one binding procedure.

However, the version speedily approved by parliament is quite controversial: the bill allows local registration offices to sell citizens' data to third parties - marketing firms, for instance.

'A solution that isn't one'

Until now, citizens had to explicitly agree to the sharing of their personal data; under the new law, they would have to actively fight against it. Critics of the new law have pointed out that the exchange of personal data would now be an exception the rule.

"The advertising industry could, in principle, simply reconcile existing lists, and accordingly, the local registration offices could disregard any objections. Therefore, it's a solution that actually isn't one," said Johannes Caspar, a data protection officer in Hamburg.

What's more: reporting oneself to the local registration office is a must in Germany, and should be done, at the most, two weeks after moving into a new home. Anyone who fails to comply risks a fine. In the future, then, personal data would be sold which individuals would have given up after being forced by law into doing so.

"To introduce such a law that would give local registration offices the permission to pass on data - this is a disproportionate interference into self-determination of information, and it is unconstitutional," said Caspar.

A law for the advertising industry?

"One has to wonder whether the law didn't come into being under pressure from the associations - the advertising industry and the address trade," said Caspar. "There is no other way to explain why the pre-existing draft law, which included an option requiring a citizen's consent, was changed. The previous draft was fine."

"I don't understand what all the fuss is about," said Helmut Brandt, a member of parliament with the conservative Christian Democrats, in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. He believes asking citizens to opt out of the data sharing is an effective way of solving the problem.

Pending approval

Now, all that's left is for the law to be passed by the Bundesrat, the legislative body that represents the federal states and serves as Germany's upper house. Only once the Bundesrat has passed the bill can it be sent to the president for final ratification.

But, given the sharp criticism, the approval of the Bundesrat is now in question, especially after Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner's recent comments that the bill - drafted by her own party - is likely to be rejected in its current form.

"I can only hope that the bill won't be passed in its current form - because we would then be heading in a constitutionally questionable direction," said Caspar.

He also hopes that the Bundesrat will take more time to deal with the draft bill than the Bundestag. The chances are good: Euro 2012 has been over for more than a week.

Author: Friedel Taube / db, cmk
Editor: Andreas Illmer