CIVIL LIBERTIES ADVOCATE TO CHALLENGE EU DATA RETENTION LAW

UNCLAS DUSSELDORF 000037 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KISL PTER KPAO GM SUBJECT: CIVIL LIBERTIES ADVOCATE TO CHALLENGE EU DATA RETENTION LAW Sensitive but Unclassified -- Not for Internet Distribution ¶1. (SBU) Former Federal Interior Minister Gerhart Baum (FDP) told Pol/Econ Off that he plans to challenge the German law that implements the EU data retention directive this coming January. The law itself extends the amount of time personal data can be kept and was approved on November 10, 2007, by the German Federal Parliament by amending existing legislation. Baum said that he plans to lodge a constitutional complainant against the new law in the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe shortly after it goes into effect on January 1, 2008. ¶2. (SBU) This case will be the fourth civil liberties-related case Baum has brought before the Constitutional Court. The first case resulted in a 2005 decision that allowed electronic surveillance in one's private home, but only under strict guidelines that one senior official at the Office of the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) described to us as, "too strict to be effective." The second case resulted in a decision in 2006 that overturned the "2003 Air Security Act" which would have permitted the German airforce to shoot down hijacked planes. Most recently, Baum has argued before the Court that an amendment of the OPC law in North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) allowing online searches is unconstitutional. A decision on this case is expected in February 2008. ¶3. (U) Baum currently works as a lawyer in private practice in Cologne. He was Federal Interior Minister of Germany from 1978-1982. At the time, he was the youngest Federal MOI to hold the position. While still a member of the FDP, he is no longer active in politics. ¶4. (U) This message was coordinated with Embassy Berlin. KRAFT