Muqova rasmi Fotolia

Data Protection/Privacy Legislation

Federal Data Protection Act (2003)

Germany has one of the strictest data protection laws in the European Union. The world's first data protection law was passed in the German Land of Hessen in 1970. In 1977, a Federal Data Protection Law followed, which was replaced in 1990, amended in 1994 and 1997. An additional revision took place in August 2002 to align German legislation with the EU Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC). The general purpose of this law is 'to protect the individual against violations of his personal rights by handling person-related data.'