Anyone who, as a cyclist or wheelchair user, or simply out of principle, is annoyed by illegal parkers will in future be allowed to photograph the offenders for an ad. An administrative court in Bavaria decides that taking photos is legal. The German Environmental Aid welcomes the verdict.
Anyone who sends photos of illegal parkers as part of a report to the police does not normally violate data protection. This is the result of two fundamental judgments that have now been published by the Administrative Court in Ansbach. The court agreed with two men who had backed up their reports of parking violations on sidewalks and cycle paths with photos. They therefore received a warning from the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision - together with a fee of 100 euros each. On the other hand, the two went to court.
The administrative court combined the two procedures in a joint hearing because of the identical questions and ultimately ruled that the procedure involved lawful data processing. However, the exact reason is not yet available. From a legal point of view, the judgments are of fundamental importance, but are not yet final.
The German Environmental Aid, which supports one of the two plaintiffs in a test case, welcomed the verdict. "Wrong parking is not a minor offence, but endangers people who are traveling with bicycles, walkers, wheelchairs or prams," commented Federal Managing Director Jürgen Resch. "The authorities should not take action against civil society commitment, but take consistent measures against blocked footpaths and cycle paths, illegal parking in front of lowered curbs or in crossing areas. And not just in Bavaria, but nationwide."
The core of the proceedings was the question of whether the digital transmission of the photos constituted lawful data processing within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation. Because according to this regulation, there must be a legitimate interest in sending the image files. On the other hand, data transmission and processing must be necessary.
Accordingly, the parties to the proceedings before the 14th chamber argued about whether the complainants must be personally affected by the parking violations and whether the written or telephone description of the facts, stating the license plate number, was not sufficient. The State Office for Data Protection Supervision also pointed out that other data such as other cars with license plates or people can often be seen in the pictures. The plaintiffs, in turn, emphasized that the police had asked them to document the parking situation as precisely as possible with photos as evidence.
