Germany. Comprehensive data protection. Act
BDSG 1977Federal Data Protection Act 1977 (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz)
Partly verified
Medium confidence.Replacement date follows the in-force date of the 1990 act (WIPO Lex, uni-ulm.de text). The 1978 date comes from a Bundestag document quoted in a search result. Hesse's 1970 Datenschutzgesetz (state level) is deliberately not included.
§1Summary
- Synopsis
The first federal data protection act in Germany, titled 'Gesetz zum Schutz vor Missbrauch personenbezogener Daten bei der Datenverarbeitung'. It regulated the processing of personal data by federal public bodies and by private bodies. It predated the Federal Constitutional Court's 1983 census judgment and was replaced by a wholly new BDSG in 1990.
- Key themes
- Unique features
Followed the Hessian Datenschutzgesetz of 1970, regarded as the first data protection law in the world.
- SaaS relevance
Historical only; replaced by the Federal Data Protection Act of 1990.
§2Obligations
- Breach notification
- None
- DPO
- No
§3Dates
- Key dates
- Adopted
- In force
- Ended
- Adopted 27 January 1977; general entry into force 1 January 1978, with section 6 and its annex on technical security measures from 1 January 1979; replaced by the new BDSG of 20 December 1990, in force 1 June 1991
§4Text and authority
- Text
- Authoritative text bpb.de
§5Where it applies
- Domestic law of
- Germany
§6Sources and verification
- Sources consulted
- Verification
Medium confidence.
Partly verified
Medium confidence.Replacement date follows the in-force date of the 1990 act (WIPO Lex, uni-ulm.de text). The 1978 date comes from a Bundestag document quoted in a search result. Hesse's 1970 Datenschutzgesetz (state level) is deliberately not included.