Article contents
The Decision of the Bundesverfassungsgericht of March 3, 2004 Concerning Acoustic Surveillance of Housing Space
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
Extract
On March 3, 2004, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (German Federal Constitutional Court) decided that the regulations in the Strafprozessordnung (StPO – Code of Criminal Procedure) concerning acoustic surveillance of housing space (the so called “Großer Lauschangriff“) partly violate the Grundgesetz (GG – German Constitution or Basic Law). Article 13.3 of the Basic Law itself, which in 1998 integrated the right to acoustic surveillance of housing for reason of prosecution into the Basic Law, was nonetheless found to be constitutional. In the following comment, the legal status, the political background of the constitutional change in 1998 and the essential content of the Court's decision shall be examined in detail.
- Type
- Public Law
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2004 by German Law Journal GbR
References
1 BVerfG, BvR, 1 (2004), 2378 (2398), available at http:/www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20040303_1bvr237898.html, and NJW 2004, 999ff.Google Scholar
2 For an English version, see http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StPO.htm.Google Scholar
3 For an English version, see http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/info/gg.pdf.Google Scholar
4 BVerfG, BvR, 1 (2004), 2378 (2398) available at http:/www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20040303_1bvr237898.html, Abs.-Nr. 103 ff., and NJW 2004, 999 (1000 ff.).Google Scholar
5 Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Bekämpfung der Organisierten Kriminalität, 4 May 1998 (BGBl. I, p.845).Google Scholar
6 § 100 c subs. 1 No. 3 (d): criminal offenses against peace, of high treason, of endangering the democratic state based on the Rule of Law, or of treason and of endangering external security (sections 80 to 82, 85, 87, 88, 94 to 96, also in conjunction with section 97b, sections 97a, 98 to 100a, Penal Code);Google Scholar
§ 100 c subs. 1 No. 3 (e): a criminal offense pursuant to section 129 subsection (4) in conjunction with subsection (1), section 129a of the Penal Code (creation of a criminal organization in an especially severe case, support of a terrorist organization). For difficulties which arise from the specification of offences in the Code of Criminal Procedure, see Hans Kudlich & Florian Melloh, Money Laundering and Surveillance of Telecommunication – The Recent Decision of the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH – Federal Court of Justice), 5 German Law Journal 123 (2004), at http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=381.Google Scholar
7 The Chamber of national security is laid down in § 74a Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (Organization of Courts Act) in the version of 9 May 1975 (BGBl. I, p. 1077), changed by law of 24 August 2004 (BGBl. I, p. 2198).Google Scholar
8 Art. 93 subs. 1 Nr. 4 a GG.Google Scholar
9 Article 1 [Human dignity]Google Scholar
(1) Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.Google Scholar
(3) The following basic rights shall bind the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary as directly applicable law.Google Scholar
10 Article 13 [Inviolability of the home]Google Scholar
(1) The home is inviolable.Google Scholar
11 Article 19 [Restriction of basic rights]Google Scholar
(2) In no case may the essence of a basic right be affected.Google Scholar
12 Article 79 [Amendment of the Basic Law]Google Scholar
(3) Amendments to this Basic Law affecting the division of the Federation into Länder, their participation on principle in the legislative process, or the principles laid down in Articles 1 and 20 shall be inadmissible.Google Scholar
13 Article 19 [Restriction of basic rights]Google Scholar
(4) Should any person's rights be violated by public authority, he may have recourse to the courts. If no other jurisdiction has been established, recourse shall be to the ordinary courts. The second sentence of paragraph (2) of Article 10 shall not be affected by this paragraph.Google Scholar
14 Article 103 [Hearing in accordance with law; ban on retroactive criminal laws and on multiple punishment]Google Scholar
(1) In the courts every person shall be entitled to a hearing in accordance with law.Google Scholar
15 See the discussion of criminal measures against organized crime in Eisenberg, Straf(verfahrens-)rechtliche Maßnahmen gegenüber Organisiertem Verbrechen, NJW 1033 (1993).Google Scholar
16 BGBl. I, p. 1302.Google Scholar
17 Deutsch, Die heimliche Erhebung von Informationen und deren Aufbewahrung durch die Polizei, 264 (1991); See Eisenberg, supra note 15, at 1037; Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Der “große Lauschangriff” – Sicherheit statt Freiheit, ZRP 87, 88 (1998).Google Scholar
18 BGBl. I, p. 610.Google Scholar
19 See Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Bekämpfung der Organisierten Kriminalität, supra note 5.Google Scholar
20 Gusy, Lauschangriff und Grundgesetz, JuS 457 (2004) with further citations.Google Scholar
21 Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Der “große Lauschangriff” – Sicherheit statt Freiheit, ZRP 87 (1998).Google Scholar
22 Eisenberg, Ulrich, Straf (verfahrens-) rechtliche Maßnahmen gegenüber “Organisiertem Verbrechen,” NJW 1033, 1034 (1993).Google Scholar
23 Eisenberg, supra note 23; Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, supra note 22, at 88.Google Scholar
24 Gesetz zur Bekämpfung des illegalen Rauschgifthandels und anderer Erscheinungsformen der Organisierten Kriminalität, of 15 July 1992 (BGBl. 1992, p.1302).Google Scholar
25 Verbrechensbekämpfungsgesetz, of 28 October 1994 (BGBl. I, p. 3186).Google Scholar
26 See the travaux préparatoire for the statute of 1997, BT–Drs. 13/8651, 31.Google Scholar
27 BVerfGE 101, 361 (383) (Caroline von Monaco).Google Scholar
28 See for the theory of a relative substance of constitutional rights, BVerfGE 61, 82 (113); BVerfG, NJW 1996, 1201 (1202); Maunz, , in: Grundgesetz, Kommentar, Art. 19(2), margin number 16; Hesse, Grundzüge des Verfassungsrechts, margin number 332 (20th ed. 1995); see also BVerwGE 84, 375 (380).Google Scholar
29 See Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Bekämpfung der Organisierten Kriminalität, supra note 5Google Scholar
30 Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, supra note 22, at 91.Google Scholar
31 Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, Erfahrungsbericht der Bundesregierung kann Lauschangriff nicht rechtfertigen, available at http://www.leutheusser-schnarrenberger.de/.Google Scholar
32 1 BvR 2378/98 of 3 March 2004, Absatz–Nr. 111, 132.Google Scholar
33 Absatz-Nr. 122f., 134. See also Denninger, Verfassungsechtliche Grenzen des Lauschens, ZRP 101 (2004); Gusy, , Lauschangriff und Grundgesetz, JuS 457, 458 (2004); Aktuelles aus der Rechtsprechung, JZ 2004, at 2. See also, Weyand, Einschränkungen beim “GROßEN Lauschangriff“ – keine Katastrophe für die Praxis (Weyand states that these arguments of the Bundesverfassungsgericht are common sense).Google Scholar
34 Absatz-Nr. 135, 152.Google Scholar
35 Absatz-Nr. 138, 139.Google Scholar
36 Gusy, supra note 34, at 459.Google Scholar
37 Denninger, supra note 34, at 102.Google Scholar
38 Absatz-Nr. 168; See also Geis, Angriff auf drei Ebenen: Verfassung, Strafprozessordnung und Überwachungspraxis, Die Entscheidung des BVerfG zum großen Lauschangriff und ihre Folgen für die Strafverfolgungspraxis, CR, 338, 341 (2004).Google Scholar
39 Absatz-Nr. 225.Google Scholar
40 Gusy, supra note 34, at 460.Google Scholar
41 Absatz-Nr. 269.Google Scholar
42 Absatz-Nr. 300.Google Scholar
43 Absatz-Nr. 308 (316 f.).Google Scholar
44 BVerfGE 57, 250 (288); E 101 106 (129).Google Scholar
45 Absatz-Nr. 328.Google Scholar
46 Absatz-Nr. 348.Google Scholar
47 This is Judge Jäger and Judge Hohmann-Dennhardt.Google Scholar
48 Absatz-Nr. 355.Google Scholar
49 BVerfGE 96, 27 (44); E 100, 313; E 103, 142.Google Scholar
50 Weyand, supra note 33.Google Scholar
51 Id.Google Scholar
52 Geis, supra note 39, at 342.Google Scholar
- 2
- Cited by