BND law
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law on the Federal Intelligence Service |
| Short title: | BND law |
| Abbreviation: | BNDG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Constitutional law , intelligence law |
| References : | 12-6 |
| Issued on: | December 20, 1990 ( Federal Law Gazette I pp. 2954, 2979 ) |
| Entry into force on: | December 30, 1990 |
| Last change by: |
Art. 19 VO from 19 June 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1328, 1330 ) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
June 27, 2020 (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020) |
| Weblink: | Text of the law |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The BND Act ( BNDG ) of December 20, 1990 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2979) regulates the organization, tasks and powers of the German foreign intelligence service . According to Section 1 (1) BNDG, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) is a higher federal authority within the scope of the Federal Chancellery . The task of the service is to collect and evaluate the information required to gain knowledge about foreign countries ( Section 1 (2) BNDG).
If this is necessary for the performance of its tasks, the BND may use intelligence services to secretly obtain information ( Section 5 sentence 1 BNDG in conjunction with Section 8 (2) BVerfSchG). Insofar as the BND is active in Germany, its measures are subject to the regulations and controls in accordance with Article 10 Act . The BND Act was extensively in December 2016 the Act on foreign-foreign-communications intelligence of the Bundesnachrichtendienst amended .
prehistory
The legal basis for the establishment of the BND was an organizational decree of the federal government . This did not consider a formal federal law to be necessary because the BND should not be given any sovereign powers. It was not until 1983, with the census ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, that a legal basis was deemed necessary. However, it was not until the end of 1990 that the BND law was passed.
Judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of May 19, 2020
Several complainants raised parts of the law in January 2018, supported by civil society organizations - the Society for Freedom Rights , the German Association of Journalists , the German Union of Journalists, the Journalists Network n-ost , Netzwerk Recherche and Reporters Without Borders -, constitutional complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court. They turned against the "unprovoked" mass surveillance, in which the BND searches through data streams abroad for strategic telecommunications intelligence without a specific reason. Some of the data is passed on to foreign services.
An oral hearing took place on January 14th and 15th, 2020. On May 19, 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court declared parts of the BND Act to be unconstitutional because it violated the secrecy of telecommunications in Article 10 ( Article 10 (1)) and the freedom of the press in Article 5 ( Article 5 (1) sentence 2 of the Basic Law) violate the Basic Law. In addition, the citation requirement under Article 19 of the Basic Law ( Article 19, Paragraph 1, Sentence 2) is violated. By the end of 2021, the legislature must amend the law in accordance with the constitution. Until then it still applies.
At the end of September 2020, the Federal Chancellery submitted the ministerial draft to amend the BND law.
literature
- Wolf-Rüdiger Schenke , Kurt Graulich , Josef Ruthig : Federal Security Law - BPolG, BKAG, ATDG, BVerfSchG, BNDG, VereinsG . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-406-71602-7 , pp. 1421-1512 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johannes Erasmus: The secret intelligence service . 1st edition. Musterschmidt, Göttingen 1952.
- ↑ Thomas Wolf: The emergence of the BND. Structure, financing, control (= Jost Dülffer, Klaus-Dietmar Henke, Wolfgang Krieger, Rolf-Dieter Müller [eds.]: Publications of the Independent Commission of Historians for Researching the History of the Federal Intelligence Service 1945–1968 . Volume 9 ). 1st edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-96289-022-3 , pp. 307 ff .
- ^ BND law - GFF - Society for Freedom Rights eV Accessed on May 7, 2020 .
- ↑ Unjustified mass surveillance by the BND is wrong. In: faz.net. May 19, 2019, accessed May 19, 2020.
- ↑ Federal Constitutional Court - Dates - pronouncement of the verdict in the matter of "Strategic foreign-foreign telecommunications investigation of the Federal Intelligence Service". Retrieved May 7, 2020 .
- ^ Judgment of the First Senate: 1 BvR 2835/17. Federal Constitutional Court, May 19, 2020, accessed on May 19, 2020 .
- ↑ Referent draft of the Federal Chancellery - Draft of a law to amend the law on the Federal Intelligence Service to implement the requirements from the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of May 19, 2020 (1 BvR 2835/17). In: netzpolitik.org. September 29, 2020, accessed on September 30, 2020 (full text of the draft bill).
