WEBER AND SARAVIA v. GERMANY DECISION 11 finding was not called into question by the fact that the initial collection of data by means of the random interception of telecommunications in order to prevent or investigate offences, without any prior suspicion of a specific offence being planned or having been committed, would breach Article 10. 40. However, in the opinion of the Federal Constitutional Court, the transmission of data under section 3(5), first sentence, in its present version, disproportionately interfered with the right to secrecy of telecommunications and freedom of the press. The transmission of data constituted a further serious interference with the secrecy of telecommunications, because criminal investigations could be instituted against persons concerned by the interception of telecommunications which had been carried out without any prior suspicion of an offence. Consequently, such transmission was proportionate only if it served the protection of an important legal interest and if there was a sufficient factual basis for the suspicion that criminal offences were being planned or had been committed. 41. Section 3(5), first sentence, read in conjunction with section 3(3), did not fully comply with these requirements. 42. The catalogue of offences in respect of which the transmission of data was permitted also included less serious offences such as fraud relating to economic subsidies. Moreover, the impugned provision authorised the transmission of data in cases in which there were merely factual indications for the suspicion that one of the offences listed in that provision had been committed or was even only being planned. The transmission of data for the investigation of an offence which had already been committed was to be authorised only if the factual basis for the transmission was the same as that required by Article 100a of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Article 100a provided, however, that interferences with the secrecy of telecommunications in order to investigate crimes required the presence of specific facts – as opposed to mere factual indications – warranting the suspicion that the person concerned had committed an offence listed in that provision. As regards the transmission of data for the prevention of crime, the combination of the following elements led to a disproportionate interference with the fundamental rights affected: the fact that mere factual indications were sufficient, that the mere planning of an offence could suffice, and that transmission could also be justified in the case of less serious offences. 43. The Federal Constitutional Court further found that section 3(5), second sentence, was likewise not compatible with the right to secrecy of telecommunications. It considered it unnecessary to entrust the decision on transmission of data to an independent body. However, there was no requirement to record in minutes the transmission or the destruction or deletion of the data. This rendered effective supervision of the transmission of the data impossible.

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