Revocation declaration

According to German criminal procedure law, a revocation declaration is a declaration by a supreme service authority that the disclosure of certain files or documents would be detrimental to the welfare of the federal government or a federal state. The revocation declaration is regulated in § 96 StPO.

In principle, the principle of the duty to provide administrative assistance according to Article 35.1 of the Basic Law means that an authority whose files or findings are relevant to ongoing criminal proceedings is obliged to submit the files to the court or to disclose its knowledge upon request. In cases in which the disclosure of this information could be detrimental to the well-being of the state, the revocation declaration creates the possibility of keeping the relevant information secret.

The revocation declaration can be checked via administrative channels.

In criminal proceedings, the blocking declaration initially means that the respective evidence is inaccessible in the legal sense, so that an application for evidence aimed at its exploitation can be rejected and non- exploitation of the evidence does not constitute a violation of the judicial disclosure obligation.

Insofar as the defendant's defense options are restricted as a result, this must, however, be compensated for by a particularly careful evaluation of evidence and the application of the principle in dubio pro reo .