Germany

[DE] Agreement on Media Data Protection

IRIS 2000-6:1/25

Dominik Mann

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

The Federal Minister of the Interior and the Press Council have compromised over the control of data collected by the media. The current draft Data Protection Act is designed to transpose the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive. The original draft stipulated that the media should be subject to data control measures, a decision that had aroused criticism from the German Press Council and numerous media organisations. The provisions stated that all citizens had a right to know about any data collected and stored concerning them. Editors were also required to appoint independent data protection officers to scrutinise the data collection, editing and archiving processes.

The new compromise makes allowances for the peculiarities of editorial work. Rather than data protection officers, the German Press Council, the media's selfregulatory body, will monitor compliance with data protection regulations. The Press Council is also required to draw up a data protection code for editors and set up a complaints procedure before an independent committee. Apart from these self-regulatory measures, no provision is made for external control of the media.