Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Representative on Freedom of the Media
A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF LAWS AND PRACTICES ON ACCESS TO INFORMATION BY THE MEDIA IN THE OSCE PARTICIPATING STATES
Questionnaire
Instructions:
Mr. Ilia Dohel, Assistant Research Officer
or by regular mail to:
OSCE/RFOM
Kärntner Ring 5-7, 2nd floor,
A - 1010 Vienna, Austria,
or by fax:
+43-1-514-36-6260 (Attn: Mr. Ilia Dohel),
Thank you for your co-operation.
Information for Germany supplied by:
Walter Keim walter.keim@gmail.com (German citizen)
Torshaugv. 2 C
N-7020 Trondheim
Germany: Right of Access to Information
Constitutional Rights
Only in 1 of 16 states, i.e. Brandenburg (Constitution Article 21 (4))
The Constitutional Court rejected the "Constitutional Complaint Freedom of Information" 1 BvR 1981/05 on access to public documents. The appeal is now "Complaint Access of Information and Fair Trial" (Appl. No. 41126/05) at the European Court of Human Rights since 11. November 2005: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/echr-complaint.htm
No such right, see above.
8 of 16 states have FOI laws. However some courts see Basic Law Article 14 [right to property] supersede consumers right to know about measurements of wrong weight of products.
Beschluss des Schleswig-Holsteinischen Oberverwaltungsgerichts vom 22. Juni 2005, Az: 4 LB 30/04: "Weil der Verbraucherschutz kein Rechtsgut von Verfassungsrang ist, muss er grundsätzlich hinter von Art. 14 GG (Eigentumsrecht) geschützten Rechtspositionen zurücktreten und kann auch im vorliegenden Einzelfall die Belange der betroffenen Unternehmen nicht überwiegen."
The federal court Bundesverwaltungsgericht did not allow an appeal: Beschluss des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts, BVerwG 3 B 126.05
Legal Rights
Federal Freedom of Information Act - FOIA: http://www.informationsfreiheit.info/files/foia_germany_final_june05_clear.pdf http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/FOIA_Germany_Final_June05_clear.pdf in power since 1. January 2006. 8 of 16 states: http://www.bfdi.bund.de/cln_029/nn_672714/IFG/Gesetze/Landesgesetze/Landesgesetze__node.html__nnn=true have adopted FOI laws.
No limits: Everybody
No privileges for journalists. Organisations are (normally) not allowed to apply.
No statistics for journalists. But from 1. January to 20. June 2006 there were 420 applications in federation altogether. 106 were refused: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/76563 . The federal government defends that there are many exceptions. It is not known how many of the applications are from journalists.
There are press laws for 16 states (since approx. 40 years): http://www.presserecht.de/navig/n_gesetze_presse.html However there is no right to access documents, just oral information.
I do not know much more than that the laws are old and give no access to documents only oral information.
I do not know such a law.
For all the above, please provide texts of laws and other relevant documents, statistics, web links to all documents, preferably in English.
Receiving and Publishing Information
Rules on Classification
I don't know these laws.
Rules on Limitations
The criminal code section 93: http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#93 state secrets.
The criminal code applies to all.
Violation of Official Secrecy and of a Special Duty of Secrecy (criminal code section 353b): http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#353b
Wrongdoings of the state (Illegal Secrets) are also protected, criminal code section 97a: http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#97a
Transparency International is concerned about the situation of whistle-blowers in Germany: http://www.transparency.de/Whistleblowing.60.0.html
Criminal code section 96 (2): http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#96: "Whoever obtains a state secret, which has been kept secret by an official agency or at its behest, in order to disclose it (Section 95), shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years. An attempt shall be punishable."
Rules on Sanctions
See criminal code section 94 Treason: http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#94
See criminal code section 94 (1) 2.
Please describe the outcomes, including the date of the case, the defendants and the charges.
The Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND=German secret service) spied on German journalists to find out who in BND gave information to the press. The magazine Cicero got a visit from the police and the editor was prisoner: http://www.taz.de/pt/2006/08/17/a0161.1/text
"Jüngst enthüllte Details der BND-Affäre zeigen das: Nicht nur observierte der Dienst jahrelang kritische Journalisten, er setzte sogar unter Presseleuten gewonnene Spitzel auf deren Kollegen an.": http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,416451,00.html
The public will not be informed fully only a parliamentary commission (Parlamentarische Kontrollgremium (PKG) )
For all the above, please provide texts of laws and other relevant documents, statistics, web links to all documents, preferably in English.
I have no further answers to:
Protection of Publication in the Public Interest
For all the above, please provide texts of laws and other relevant documents, statistics, web links to all documents, preferably in English.
Protection of sources
For all the above, please provide texts of laws and other relevant documents, statistics, web links to all documents in English.
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