Search results : 1348

In a ruling of 9 October 2013, the Schleswig-Holsteinische Verwaltungsgericht (Schleswig-Holstein Administrative Court - VG) lifted the decision of the Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz (Independent Land Data Protection Centre - ULD), prohibiting companies in Schleswig-Holstein from operating Facebook fan pages (case no. 8 A 218/11, 8 A 14/12, 8 A 37/12). The ULD had banned the operation of Facebook fan pages on the basis of Article 38(5) of the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (Federal Data Protection Act - BDSG) because it breached data protection law in several ways. Visitors to such fan pages...

In a decision of 12 September 2013, the Oberverwaltungsgericht Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg Administrative Court of Appeal - OVG) ruled, in summary appeal proceedings instigated under Article 146 of the Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung (Administrative Court Procedural Code - VwGO), that the constitutional right to information enshrined in Article 5(1)(2)(1) of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law - GG) does not apply to MPs’ use of their spending allowance. The journalist had asked the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) administration for information about which MPs had used the allowance to buy more...

In a ruling of 22 August 2013 (case no. 2 A 10002/13.OVG), the Oberverwaltungsgericht Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate Administrative Court of Appeal - OVG) decided that the depiction of a brand of beer before and during the live broadcast of a football match on the Sat.1 television channel had constituted unlawful product placement in the sense of Article 7(7)(3) of the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement - RStV). During the broadcast of a UEFA Europa League match, in which the use of product placement had been mentioned, TV broadcaster Sat.1 had twice switched to the...

The European Court of Human Rights has delivered a new judgment regarding a complaint by Princess Caroline von Hannover that the German courts had not sufficiently protected her right to privacy as guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention, by giving too much weight to the right of the press as guaranteed by Article 5 of the German Constitution and Article 10 of the European Convention (see earlier also Von Hannover no. 1 v. Germany, IRIS 2004-8/2 and Von Hannover no. 2 v. Germany, IRIS 2012-3/1). This time the Princess of Monaco lodged an appeal in Strasbourg relating to the refusal by the German...

On 7 June 2013, the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) adopted the Achtes Gesetz zur Änderung des Gesetzes gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (Eighth Act Amending the Restraints on Competition Act - 8. GWB-ÄndG) (see IRIS 2012-4/100), which entered into force on 30 June 2013. Under the new version of the GWB, the ban on anti-competitive agreements does not apply to industry agreements between press publishing houses and press wholesalers. However, a condition of this exemption is that, under the agreements, press wholesalers distribute newspapers and magazines to retailers in a comprehensive, non-discriminatory...