Germany has passed a law which amends several existing laws, including the Telecommunications Act, clarifying in particular the obligations of telecommunications providers to disclose customer data to law enforcement authorities. The existing disclosure obligations relate to “customer data”, which is data of subscribers collected for the purpose of establishing, regulating the contents of, modifying or terminating a contract for telecommunications services; customer data includes the name or address of the customer, telephone numbers as well as PIN, PUK and passwords.

This new law was required following a ruling by Germany’s Supreme Court last year. The Court had declared some of the existing provisions as unconstitutional and only allowed their continued application until the end of June 2013. The new law will enter into force on 1 July 2013, just in time before the expiry of this transitional period.Continue Reading Green Light for Important Changes to German Telecommunications Laws