Independent body

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The independent body is a three-member body located at the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) to control the international-foreign telecommunications intelligence of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) for its legality and necessity .

Tasks and way of working

In order to fulfill its tasks, the Federal Intelligence Service may process information, including personal data, from telecommunications networks via which telecommunications from foreigners abroad takes place (telecommunications networks) from within Germany using technical means (international-international telecommunications intelligence ). Data may only be collected from those telecommunications networks that the Federal Chancellery has previously determined by order. ( Section 6 (1) BNDG) The independent body is informed of these orders by the Federal Chancellery before they are implemented. informed. It examines the admissibility and necessity of the order. If, as an exception, an order is carried out without prior notification of the committee because the objective of the measure would otherwise be thwarted or made significantly more difficult, the notification must be made up immediately. Orders declared by the committee to be inadmissible or unnecessary are to be revoked immediately. ( Section 9 (4) BNDG)

Awareness-raising measures directed against citizens of the European Union , its institutions or the institutions of its member states are specially monitored by the independent body. The committee is also authorized to carry out spot checks on the dissemination of educational results to foreign public bodies and of findings that concern the core area of ​​private life . ( Section 15 (3) sentence 6 BNDG)

The body acts independently and free of instructions ( Section 16 (1) sentence 2 BNDG). The necessary staff and equipment are to be made available to him. The office will be set up at the BGH. ( Section 16 (3) BNDG) The independent body meets at least every three months and issues rules of procedure . It decides with a majority of the members. If a member is unable to attend, he is represented by the respective deputy . ( § 16 Abs. 4 BNDG) The deliberations are secret. ( Section 16 (5) BNDG) The body informs the parliamentary control body about its activities every six months. ( Section 16 (6) BNDG)

Members

The independent body consists of a chairman, two assessors and three deputy members. ( Section 16 (1) sentence 1 BNDG) The chairman and one assessor must be a judge at the Federal Court of Justice, and one assessor must be a federal prosecutor at the Federal Court of Justice. The same proportion applies to the three deputies. The members are appointed by the Federal Cabinet for six years on the proposal of the President of the Federal Court of Justice or the Federal Public Prosecutor General . ( Section 16 (2) BNDG) You are obliged to maintain secrecy, even after you have left the committee, and must undergo an extended security review with security investigations. ( Section 16 (5) BNDG)

The body currently includes the judge at the Federal Court of Justice Gabriele Cirener ( 1st criminal division ), the judge at the Federal Court of Justice Claus Zeng ( 2nd criminal division ) and the Federal Prosecutor at the Federal Court of Justice Lothar Mau. You were appointed on March 6, 2017. Your deputies are the judges at the Federal Court of Justice Harald Reiter ( 3rd Civil Senate ) and Burkhard Feilcke ( 4th Criminal Senate ) as well as the Federal Prosecutor at the Federal Court of Justice Johann Schmid.

history

The independent body was created by the article law on foreign-foreign telecommunications intelligence of the Federal Intelligence Service, which among other things changed the BND law . The Article Act was issued on December 23, 2016, announced in the Federal Law Gazette on December 30, 2016 and came into force the following day. The Independent Panel was established following the discussion of global espionage activities by the NSA . According to media reports, the Independent Committee found no gross misconduct by the BND in its first report. However, the members criticized the authority's cautious handling of information. In its second report, the panel recognizes progress that accidentally intercepted personal data such as illnesses or marital problems are now being quickly deleted.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Independent body begins its work. Legal Tribune Online, March 9, 2017, accessed August 3, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Law on the international-international telecommunications investigation of the Federal Intelligence Service. December 23, 2016, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  3. ↑ BND control continued with blind spots. Tagesschau, June 14, 2018, accessed on August 3, 2018 .