Security Police Act
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Security Police Act |
| Long title: | Federal Act on the Organization of Security Administration and the Exercise of the Security Police (Security Police Act - SPG) |
| Abbreviation: | SPG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Republic of Austria |
| Legal matter: | Special administrative law |
| Reference: | Federal Law Gazette No. 566/1991 |
| Effective date: | May 1, 1993 |
| Last change: | Federal Law Gazette I No. 113/2019 |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version ! | |
The Security Police Act (SPG) regulates the organization of security administration and the maintenance of public peace , order and security in Austria . It was fundamentally amended in July 2005 on the occasion of the amalgamation of the Federal Gendarmerie , Federal Security Guard Corps and the Criminal Police Corps to form the Federal Police , and in 2012 on the occasion of the restructuring of the security authorities .
The SPG represents the legal basis for the security authorities and their organs, i.e. the police. In addition, the SPG regulates the organization and tasks of the security authorities and the federal police guard .
The SPG is divided into 9 parts and these in turn into main parts and further into sections . The 9 parts each deal with:
- Part 1: Organization of security administration and definitions
- 2nd part: tasks
- Part 3: Powers of the authorities and in particular the police
- 4th part: detection service and investigation service
- 5th part: prison administration
- Part 6: Criminal provisions
- 7th part: special legal protection
- Part 8: Information requirements
- 9th part: final provisions
Regulations
Numerous implementing ordinances have now been issued. The most important and most important for the police and authorities are:
- Guideline Ordinance - RLV (based on § 31 SPG)
- Special Units Ordinance - SEV (based on § 6 SPG)
- Detention order - AnhO (based on § 50 SPG)
- Uniform Protection Ordinance - UPS (based on § 83a SPG)
- Security Academy Education Ordinance - SIAK-BV
Differentiation from the Code of Criminal Procedure
Some tasks in the SPG are closely related to the criminal justice system, and here in particular to the StPO ( Code of Criminal Procedure ). Some very essential tasks, such as first general assistance ( Section 19 SPG), maintaining public order ( Section 27 SPG) or the dissolution of occupations ( Section 37 SPG), are not directly related to the criminal justice system, but tasks such as this are different For example, the defense against current dangerous attacks ( § 21 SPG) or the prevention of future criminal offenses by investigating current or previous dangerous attacks.
The preventive character of the SPG in comparison to the StPO can also be seen here. The SPG should take effect in advance and prevent criminal acts (e.g. preventive protection of legal interests ( § 22 SPG), entry ban and eviction to protect against violence ( § 38a SPG)), while the StPO serves to investigate a criminal offense.
Put simply, the tasks of the SPG range from the prevention or prevention of the crime to measures to end a crime that is currently taking place. The StPO, on the other hand, has the task of investigating the crime and investigating the perpetrator (s).
This is made clear in some paragraphs of the SPG, for example in § 40 SPG - Search of people. The purpose of this search is to find objects belonging to an arrested person which are likely to endanger the safety of the person arrested and that of others or which could enable him to escape. On the other hand, a search of a person for evidence after a criminal offense must be carried out exclusively in accordance with the provisions of the StPO ( § 139 to § 142 StPO).
It is also interesting that the provisions for the identification service, i.e. how fingerprints, DNA swabs, etc. are to be carried out, are regulated in the SPG. This is because the identification service treatment should primarily serve to ward off criminal offenses, but also in order to be able to identify not only those who are suspected of having committed a crime, but also, for example, leaving or casual persons (people who are not suspect and Had the opportunity to leave traces on the scene, such as relatives of the victim, doctors and paramedics, police officers). Nevertheless, the data obtained may also be used for the purpose of the administration of criminal justice (i.e. to investigate a perpetrator) ( Section 71 SPG - transmission of identification data).
Cell phone and internet data
Completely surprisingly, in December 2007, under the Gusenbauer government from the SPÖ and ÖVP, the SPG was amended to the effect that mobile phone providers have to disclose location data and the international mobile phone subscriber identification ( IMSI ) of a mobile phone or the data on an IP address to the police without judge control. In the first few months after it came into force, it became clear that the executive was exhausting its new capabilities for call data retrieval . In the period from January 1, 2008 to April 30, 2008, 3,863 requests for information were carried out in accordance with Section 53 (3a) SPG.
A mobile operator ( GSM and UMTS ) and several private individuals have lodged complaints with the Constitutional Court (VfGH) against several provisions on cell phone and Internet data . The T-Mobile Austria applied for the "lifting of the entire Art. 1 point 4 of the Federal Act, which changed the Security Police Act, the Border Control Act and the Police Cooperation Act, BGBl. I no. 114/2007 , due to unconstitutionality" and put more auxiliary requests . 27 individuals lodged complaints with the Constitutional Court on account of alleged unconstitutionality against § 53 , § 53a and § 54 SPG in the form of Federal Law Gazette I No. 4/2008 .
The VfGH rejected the examination in its decisions.
The politician Marie Ringler (Greens) then announced that the law would be checked by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) .
literature
- Rudolf Keplinger, Lisa Pühringer: Security Police Act - Police Edition. proLIBRIS, Linz 2014, ISBN 978-3-99008-317-8 .
- Theodor Thanner: Security Police Act - SPG; Comment. NWV - New Wiss. Verlag, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-7083-0888-3 .
- Michael Lepuschitz: The Austrian Security Police Act - SPG and ancillary provisions with detailed comments. Manz, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-214-10710-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ heise online: New Austrian security police law under fire
- ↑ Big Brother Awards: Nominations
- ↑ heise online: Austria's police make intensive use of new surveillance rights.
- ↑ Inquiry to the Federal Minister of the Interior regarding data queries by the security authorities from Internet and telephony operators in accordance with § 53ff SPG, 4130 / J XXIII. GP
- ↑ Inquiry response regarding "data query by the security authorities with internet and telephony operators according to § 53ff SPG", 4148 / AB XXIII. GP
- ^ Constitutional Court: Order of July 1, 2009, file number G 31 / 08-13. (PDF) Retrieved July 16, 2009 .
- ^ Constitutional Court: Order of July 1, 2009, file number G 147, 148 / 08-14. (PDF) Retrieved July 16, 2009 .
- ↑ heise online: Austria's constitutional court does not examine the security police law
- ^ VfGH: press release
- ↑ heise.de
