Section 22 - Processing of special categories of personal dataSection 23 - Processing for other purposes by public bodiesSection 24 - Processing for other purposes by private bodiesSection 25 - Transfer of data by public bodiesSection 26 - Data processing for employment-related purposesSection 27 - Data processing for purposes of scientific or historical research and for statistical purposesSection 28 - Data processing for archiving purposes in the public interestSection 29 - Rights of the data subject and powers of the supervisory authorities in the case of secrecy obligationsSection 30 - Consumer loansSection 31 - Protection of commercial transactions in the case of scoring and credit reportsSection 32 - Information to be provided where personal data are collected from the data subjectSection 33 - Information to be provided where personal data have not been obtained from the data subjectSection 34 - Right of access by the data subjectSection 35 - Right to erasureSection 36 - Right to objectSection 37 - Automated individual decision-making, including profilingSection 38 - Data protection officers of private bodiesSection 39 - AccreditationSection 40 - Supervisory authorities of the LänderSection 41 - Application of provisions concerning criminal proceedings and proceedings to impose administrative finesSection 42 - Penal provisionsSection 43 - Provisions on administrative finesSection 44 - Proceedings against a controller or processor
Section 45 - ScopeSection 46 - DefinitionsSection 47 - General principles for processing personal dataSection 48 - Processing of special categories of personal dataSection 49 - Processing for other purposesSection 50 - Processing for archiving, scientific and statistical purposesSection 51 - ConsentSection 52 - Processing on instructions from the controllerSection 53 - ConfidentialitySection 54 - Automated individual decisionSection 55 - General information on data processingSection 56 - Notification of data subjectsSection 57 - Right of accessSection 58 - Right to rectification and erasure and to restriction of processingSection 59 - Modalities for exercising the rights of the data subjectSection 60 - Right to lodge a complaint with the Federal CommissionerSection 61 - Legal remedies against decisions of the Federal Commissioner or if he or she fails to take actionSection 62 - Processing carried out on behalf of a controllerSection 63 - Joint controllersSection 64 - Requirements for the security of data processingSection 65 - Notifying the Federal Commissioner of a personal data breachSection 66 - Notifying data subjects affected by a personal data breachSection 67 - Conducting a data protection impact assessmentSection 68 - Cooperation with the Federal CommissionerSection 69 - Prior consultation of the Federal CommissionerSection 70 - Records of processing activitiesSection 71 - Data protection by design and by defaultSection 72 - Distinction between different categories of data subjectsSection 73 - Distinction between facts and personal assessmentsSection 74 - Procedures for data transfersSection 75 - Rectification and erasure of personal data and restriction of processingSection 76 - LoggingSection 77 - Confidential reporting of violationsSection 78 - General requirementsSection 79 - Data transfers with appropriate safeguardsSection 80 - Data transfers without appropriate safeguardsSection 81 - Other data transfers to recipients in third countriesSection 82 - Mutual assistanceSection 83 - CompensationSection 84 - Penal provisions
2. public bodies of the Länder, where data protection is not governed by Land law and where they
a) carry out federal law or
(5) The provisions of this Act shall not apply where the law of the European Union, in particular Regulation (EU) 2016/679 in the applicable version, directly applies.
(1) Public bodies of the Federation are the authorities, judicial bodies and other public law institutions of the Federation, of direct federal corporations, statutory bodies and foundations established under public law and of their associations irrespective of their legal form.
(2) Public bodies of the Länder are the authorities, judicial bodies and other public law institutions of a Land, a municipality, an association of municipalities or of other legal
persons under public law subject to Land supervision and of their associations irrespective of their legal form.
(3) Associations of public bodies of the Federation and the Länder which are established under private law and perform tasks of public administration shall be regarded as public bodies of the Federation irrespective of the participation of private bodies if
(4) Private bodies are natural and legal persons, societies and other associations established under private law unless they are covered by subsections 1 to 3. If a private body performs sovereign tasks of the public administration, it shall be a public body as defined in this Act.
(5) Public bodies of the Federation shall be regarded as private bodies as defined in this Act if they take part in competition as enterprises governed by public law. Public bodies of the Länder shall also be regarded as private bodies as defined in this Act if they take part in competition as enterprises governed by public law and carry out federal law, and if data protection is not governed by Land law.
(3) The data protection officer shall be designated on the basis of professional qualities and, in particular, expert knowledge of data protection law and practices and the ability to fulfil the tasks referred to in Section 7.
(1) The Federal Commissioner shall be competent to supervise the public bodies of the Federation, also if they take part in competition as enterprises governed by public law. The provisions of this chapter shall also apply to processors if they are private bodies in which the Federation holds the absolute majority of shares or controls the absolute majority of votes and they process data on behalf of a public body of the Federation
(1) At the proposal of the Federal Government, the German Bundestag shall elect without debate the Federal Commissioner with more than half of the statutory number of its members. The person elected shall be appointed by the Federal President. The Federal Commissioner must be at least 35 years old at the time of election. He or she shall have the qualifications, experience and skills, in particular in the area of the protection of personal data, required to perform his or her duties and exercise his or her powers. In particular, the Federal Commissioner must have knowledge of data protection law acquired from the relevant professional experience and be qualified for judicial office or higher administrative service.
(2) The Federal Commissioner shall swear the following oath before the Federal President: “I swear to do everything in my power to further the good and the benefit of the German people, to protect them from harm and to defend the Basic Law and the laws of the Federation, to perform my duties conscientiously and to exercise justice in all my dealings, so help me God.” The reference to God may be omitted from the oath.
(1) The Federal Commissioner shall, in accordance with this Act, have official federal status under public law.
The fundamental right to privacy of correspondence, posts and telecommunications in Article 10 of the Basic Law shall be limited accordingly.
(1) If a supervisory authority believes that an adequacy decision of the European Commission or a decision on the recognition of standard protection clauses or on the general validity of approved codes of conduct, on the validity of which a decision of the supervisory authority depends, violates the law, the supervisory authority shall suspend its procedure and lodge an application for a court decision.
c) processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protecting against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of health care and of medicinal products or medical devices; in addition to the measures referred to in subsection 2, in particular occupational and criminal law provisions to ensure professional secrecy shall be complied with;
(1) Personal data of employees may be processed for employment-related purposes where necessary for hiring decisions or, after hiring, for carrying out or terminating the employment contract or to exercise or satisfy rights and obligations of employees’ representation laid down by law or by collective agreements or other agreements between the employer and staff council. Employees’ personal data may be processed to detect crimes only if there is a documented reason to believe the data subject has committed a crime while employed, the processing of such data is necessary to investigate the crime and is not outweighed by the data subject’s legitimate interest in not processing the data, and in particular the type and extent are not disproportionate to the reason.
(3) By derogation from Article 9 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the processing of special categories of personal data as referred to in Article 9 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 for employment-related purposes shall be permitted if it is necessary to exercise rights or comply with legal obligations derived from labour law, social security and social protection law, and there is no reason to believe that the data subject has an overriding legitimate interest in not processing the data. Subsection 2 shall also apply to consent to the processing of special categories of personal data; consent must explicitly refer to these data. Section 22 (2) shall apply accordingly.
(1) In addition to the exceptions in Article 14 (5) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the obligation to provide information to the data subject according to Article 14 (1) to (4) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall not apply as far as meeting this obligation would disclose information which by its nature must be kept secret, in particular because of overriding legitimate interests of a third party. The right of access according to Article 15 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall not apply as far as access would disclose information which by law or by its nature must be kept secret, in particular because of overriding legitimate interests of a third party. In addition to the exception in Article 34 (3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the obligation to inform the data subject of a personal data breach according to Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall not apply as far as meeting this obligation would disclose information which by law or by its nature must be kept secret, in particular because of overriding legitimate interests of a third party. By derogation from the exception pursuant to the third sentence, the data subject pursuant to Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall be informed if the interests of the data subject outweigh the interest in secrecy, in particular taking into account the threat of damage.
(2) If in the context of a client-lawyer relationship the data of third persons are transferred to persons subject to a legal obligation of professional secrecy, the transferring body shall not be obligated to inform the data subject according to Article 13 (3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 unless the data subject has an overriding interest in being informed.
1. the provisions of data protection law have been followed;
The lawfulness of processing, including the calculation of probability values, other data relevant for credit reports pursuant to general data protection law shall remain unaffected.
a) would interfere with the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or processing includes data from contracts under private law and is intended to prevent harm from criminal offences, unless the data subject has an overriding legitimate interest in receiving the information; or
b) the responsible public body has determined with respect to the controller that disclosing the data would endanger public security or order or would otherwise be detrimental to the welfare of the Federation or a Land; in the case of data processing for purposes of law enforcement, no determination pursuant to the first half-sentence shall be required.
(2) The reasons for the refusal to provide information shall be documented. The data subject shall be informed of the reasons for refusing to provide information, unless providing the reasons in law and in fact on which the decision is based would undermine the intended purpose of refusing to provide the information. Data stored for the purpose of providing information to the data subject and preparing such provision may be processed only for this purpose and for purposes of data protection monitoring; processing for other purposes shall be restricted according to Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
(1) If in the case of non-automated data processing erasure would be impossible or would involve a disproportionate effort due to the specific mode of storage and if the data subject’s interest in erasure can be regarded as minimal, the data subject shall not have the right to erasure and the controller shall not be obligated to erase personal data in accordance with Article 17 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 in addition to the exceptions given in Article 17 (3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. In this case, restriction of processing in accordance with Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 shall apply in place of erasure. The first and second sentences shall not apply if the personal data were processed unlawfully.
The right to object according to Article 21 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 with regard to a public body shall not apply if there is an urgent public interest in the processing which outweighs the interests of the data subject or if processing is required by law.
(1) The authorities pursuant to Land law shall monitor the application by private bodies of data protection legislation within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
If the supervisory authority determines that data protection legislation has been violated, it shall have the power to inform the data subjects concerned, to report the violation to other bodies responsible for prosecution or punishment and, in the case of serious violations, to notify the trade supervisory authority to take measures under trade and industry law. Section 13 (4), fourth to seventh sentences shall apply accordingly.
(2) Unless this Act provides otherwise, the provisions of the Administrative Offences Act and the general laws on criminal procedures, namely the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Judicature Act, shall apply accordingly in proceedings for violations pursuant to Article 83 (4) to (6) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Sections 56 to 58, 87, 88, 99 and 100 of the Administrative Offences Act shall not apply. Section 69 (4), second sentence of the Administrative Offences Act shall apply on the condition that the public prosecutor’s office may stop the proceedings only with the approval of the supervisory authority which issued the administrative decision imposing a fine.
(1) Proceedings against a controller or a processor for a violation of data protection law within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 or the rights of the data subject contained therein may be brought by a data subject before the court in the place where the controller or processor has an establishment. Proceedings pursuant to the first sentence may also be brought before the court in the place where the data subject has his or her habitual residence.
(3) If the controller or processor has designated a representative pursuant to Article 27 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, this representative shall also be an authorized recipient in civil law proceedings pursuant to subsection 1. Section 184 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall remain unaffected.
9. ‘recipient’ means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body to which the personal data are disclosed, whether a third party or not. However, public authorities which may receive personal data in the framework of a particular inquiry in accordance with Union or other law shall not be regarded as recipients; the processing of those data by those public authorities shall be in compliance with the applicable data protection rules according to the purposes of the processing;
10. ‘personal data breach’ means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data processed;
16. ‘international organisation’ means an organisation and its subordinate bodies governed by public international law, or any other body which is set up by, or on the basis of, an agreement between two or more countries;
18. processed lawfully and fairly;
23. processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.
8. specific codes of conduct to ensure lawful processing in case of transfer or processing for other purposes.
Processing personal data for a purpose other than the one for which they were collected shall be permitted if the other purpose is one of the purposes listed in Section 45, the controller is authorized to process data for this purpose, and processing is necessary and proportionate to this purpose. Processing personal data for another purpose not listed in Section 45 shall be permitted if it is allowed by law.
(1) If personal data may be processed by law on the basis of consent, the controller must be able to present evidence of the data subject’s consent.
(3) The data subject shall have the right to withdraw his or her consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. The data subject shall be informed of this before giving consent.
Any person acting under the authority of the controller or of the processor who has access to personal data shall not process those data except on instructions from the controller, unless required to do so by law.
(1) A decision based solely on automated processing which produces an adverse legal effect concerning the data subject or significantly affects him or her shall be permitted only when authorized by law.
(7) If the data subject is notified pursuant to subsection 6 of the refusal or restriction of access, he or she may exercise his or her right of access also via the Federal Commissioner. The controller shall inform the data subject of this possibility and that, in accordance with Section 60, the data subject may lodge a complaint with the Federal Commissioner or seek a judicial remedy. If the data subject exercises his or her right pursuant to the first sentence, the information shall be provided to the Federal Commissioner at the request of the data subject, unless the responsible supreme federal authority determines in the individual case that doing so would threaten the security of the Federation or a Land. The Federal Commissioner shall at least inform the data subject that all necessary checks have been conducted or that the Federal Commissioner has conducted a review. This notification may include information as to whether violations of data protection law were found. The notification from the Federal Commissioner to the data subject shall not permit any conclusions to be drawn concerning the information held by the controller unless the latter agrees to the provision of more extensive information. The controller may refuse to such provision only as far as and for as long as he or she could dispense with or restrict information pursuant to subsection 4. The Federal Commissioner shall also inform the data subject of his or her right to seek a judicial remedy.
(2) The data subject shall have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning him or her without delay where processing such data is unlawful, knowledge of the data is no longer necessary for the performance of tasks, or the data must be erased to comply with a legal obligation.
(2) A controller may use only processors providing sufficient guarantees to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures in such a manner that the processing will meet the requirements of the law and ensure the protection of the rights of the data subjects.
1. acts only on instructions from the controller; if the processor believes that an instruction is unlawful, the processor shall inform the controller without delay;
4. at the choice of the controller, deletes or returns all the personal data to the controller after the end of the provision of data processing services, and deletes existing copies unless law requires storage of the personal data;
Where two or more controllers jointly determine the purposes and means of processing, they shall be considered joint controllers. Joint controllers shall determine their respective tasks and responsibilities under data protection law in a transparent manner in an agreement, unless these tasks and responsibilities are already determined by law. In particular, this agreement must indicate which of them must meet which information obligations, and how and with respect to whom data subjects may exercise their rights. Such an agreement shall not prevent data subjects from asserting their rights against each of the joint controllers.
4. the measures envisaged to address the risks, including safeguards, security measures and mechanisms to ensure the protection of personal data and to demonstrate compliance with the law.
On request, the Federal Commissioner shall be given any other information he or she requires to assess the lawfulness of the processing and, in particular, the existing risks to the protection of the data subjects’ personal data and the related safeguards.
(3) If the Federal Commissioner believes that the planned processing would violate the law, in particular because the controller has not sufficiently identified the risk or has not taken sufficient measures to mitigate the risk, he or she may provide, within a period of up to six weeks of receipt of the request for consultation, written advice to the controller and, where applicable, to the processor, as to which additional measures should be taken. The Federal Commissioner may extend this period by a month, if the planned processing is especially complex. In this case, the Federal Commissioner shall inform the controller and, where applicable, the processor of the extension within one month of receipt of the request for consultation.
(2) The controller shall erase personal data without delay if their processing is unlawful, they must be erased to comply with a legal obligation, or knowledge of the data is no longer necessary for the controller to perform its tasks.
(3) Section 58 (3) to (5) shall apply accordingly. The recipient shall also be informed if inaccurate personal data have been transmitted, or if personal data have been transmitted unlawfully.
(4) Without prejudice to any time limits for storing or erasing data defined in law, the controller shall provide for appropriate time limits for the erasure of personal data or for a periodic review of the need for the storage of personal data and shall take procedural measures to ensure that these time limits are observed.
(3) The logs may be used only by the data protection officer, the Federal Commissioner or the data subject to verify the lawfulness of the processing; and for selfmonitoring, ensuring the integrity and security of the personal data, and for criminal proceedings.
The controller shall ensure that it is able to receive confidential reports of violations of data protection law which have occurred in its area of responsibility.
(2) No transfer of personal data shall be permitted, despite an adequacy decision as referred to in subsection 1 no. 2 and the public interest in the data transfer to be taken into account, if in the individual case it cannot be ensured that the data will be handled appropriately in terms of data protection law and in accordance with fundamental human rights in the area of responsibility of the recipient, or if a transfer would conflict with other overriding legitimate interests of a data subject. The controller shall base its assessment on whether the recipient in the individual case guarantees appropriate protection of the transferred data.
(4) The controller transferring data pursuant to subsection 1 shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the recipient will transfer the data onward to other third countries or other international organisations only with the prior authorisation of the controller. When deciding whether to authorize the transfer, the controller shall take into account all relevant factors, including the seriousness of the criminal offence, the purpose for which the personal data were originally transferred and the level of personal data protection in the third country or international organisation to which the data are to be transferred onward. The transfer shall be authorized only if a direct transfer to the other third country or international organisation would be lawful. The responsibility for issuing authorisation may also be otherwise provided for.
2. compliance with the request would violate the law.
(1) If a controller has caused a data subject to suffer damage by processing personal data in violation of this Act or other law applicable to this processing, the controller or its legal entity shall be obligated to provide compensation to the data subject. This obligation to provide compensation shall not apply if, in the case of non-automated processing, the damage was not the result of fault by the controller.
2. if meeting this obligation would disclose information which by law or by its nature must be kept secret, in particular because of legitimate interests of a third party which outweigh the interests of the data subject in obtaining the information.
BVerfSchG) (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2954, 2970), last amended by Article 2 (1) of the Act of 16 June 2017 (Federal Gazette I, p. 1634), shall be amended as follows:
The Federal Intelligence Service Act of 20 December 1990 (BND-Gesetz, BNDG) (Federal Law Gazette I p. 2954, 2979), last amended by Article 3 of the Act of 10 March 2017 (Federal Gazette I, p. 410), shall be amended as follows:
The Act on Prerequisites and Procedures for Security Clearance Checks Undertaken by the Federal Government 20 April 1994 (Sicherheitsüberprüfungsgesetz, SÜG) (Federal Law Gazette I p. 867), last amended by Article 1 of the Act of 16 June 2017 (Federal Gazette I, p. 1634), shall be amended as follows:
The Act to restrict the Privacy of Correspondence, Posts and Telecommunications of 26 June 2001 (Artikel 10-Gesetz, G 10) (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1254, 2298; 2017 I,
The Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, BDSG) in the version published on 14 January 2003 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 66), last amended by Article 1 of the Act of 28 April 2017 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 968), shall be amended as follows:
“Section 42b Application of the supervisory authority for a court decision if it believes that a decision by the Commission violates European law
5. The following Section 42b shall be added after Section 42a: “Section 42b Application of the supervisory authority for a court decision if it believes that a decision by the European Commission violates the law
(1) If a supervisory authority believes that an adequacy decision of the European Commission or a decision on the recognition of standard protection clauses or on the general validity of approved codes of conduct, on the validity of which a decision of the supervisory authority depends, violates the law, the supervisory authority shall suspend its procedure and lodge an application for a court decision.
(1) This Act shall enter into force on 25 May 2018, subject to subsection 2. The Federal Data Protection Act in the version published on 14 January 2003 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 66), last amended by Article 7 of this Act shall expire at the same time.