Germany's Constitutional Court strikes down some surveillance powers

(L-R) The First Senate of the Federal Constitutional Court, Miriam Meßling, Heinrich Amadeus Wolff, Josef Christ, Ines Härtel, Stephan Harbarth (Chairman of the Senate and President of the Court, Yvonne Ott, Henning Radtke and Martin Eifert, announces the ruling on the "Federal Criminal Police Office Act - Data Platforms". Germany's Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that some of the methods used by the country's police to collect and store data are unconstitutional. Uli Deck/dpa

Germany's Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that some of the methods used by the country's police to collect and store data are unconstitutional.

The Constitutional Court ruled that secret surveillance that extends to a suspect's contacts is a serious intrusion, and safeguards in current German criminal law are insufficient to establish close proximity to the underlying crime or threat being investigated.

New limits on the storage of personal data by police are also needed, the court ruled. For example, previous accusations alone against a person are not enough to establish a sufficient likely relationship to future criminal offences.

The civil rights group GFF brought the lawsuit before the court, arguing that concrete constitutional standards are required for the collection and storage of data.

Among the complainants were lawyers, a political activist and two football fans who had ended up in police databases.

The GFF celebrated the ruling as a "success for civil liberties" and said it will strengthen the rights of people to control their own data.

The group called on German politicians to craft new laws that more specifically and precisely define police surveillance powers.

The Constitutional Court previously struck down portions of the law on police surveillance powers in 2016. Lawmakers revised the statutes in 2017 in response to the ruling, but the court's decision on Tuesday again found constitutional problems with the latest version of the law.