WEBER AND SARAVIA v. GERMANY DECISION 5 2. The Law of 13 August 1968 on restrictions on the secrecy of mail, post and telecommunications 16. Being the statute envisaged by Article 10 § 2, second sentence, of the Basic Law (cited above, paragraph 14), which provides for exceptions to the general rule of inviolability of telecommunications, the Law of 13 August 1968 on restrictions on the secrecy of mail, post and telecommunications (Gesetz zur Beschränkung des Brief-, Post- und Fernmeldegeheimnisses), also called “the G 10 Act”, lays down the conditions under which the authorities may introduce the restrictions referred to in that provision of the Basic Law. 17. In a judgment delivered on 6 September 1978 (Klass and Others v. Germany, Series A no. 28), the Court held that the provisions of the G 10 Act of 13 August 1968, in its original version and as regards the monitoring of individuals, did not contravene the Convention. It found that the German legislature was justified in considering that the interference resulting from the legislation in question with the rights guaranteed by Article 8 § 1 of the Convention was necessary in a democratic society within the meaning of paragraph 2 of that Article. The Court also considered that the remedies provided for in the G 10 Act complied with the requirements of Article 13 of the Convention. 3. The Fight Against Crime Act of 28 October 1994 in the light of the Federal Constitutional Court’s judgment of 14 July 1999 (a) Legislative background 18. The Federal Law of 28 October 1994 on the fight against crime amended the G 10 Act. Among other things, it extended the range of subjects in respect of which “strategic monitoring” (as opposed to monitoring of individuals) could be carried out. In the original version of the G 10 Act, such monitoring was permitted only in order to detect and avert the danger of an armed attack on the Federal Republic of Germany and at that time was therefore merely focused on the States belonging to the Warsaw Pact. Furthermore, owing to technical progress it had become possible to identify the telephone connections (Anschlüsse) involved in an intercepted telecommunication. 19. Pursuant to the provisions of the G 10 Act which either remained unchanged by the Fight Against Crime Act or were not contested in the present case, the Offices for the Protection of the Constitution of both the Federation and the Länder (Verfassungsschutzbehörden des Bundes und der Länder), the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (Militärischer Abschirmdienst) and the Federal Intelligence Service were entitled to monitor and record telecommunications within their own sphere of activities (section 1(1) of the G 10 Act). Monitoring of individuals was limited to serious threats to national security (for example, high treason or threatening