Information on the lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany

Information on the lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany - represented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior - brought before the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig

1. DE-CIX Management GmbH has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany - represented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior - in the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) in Leipzig, Germany.
2. The purpose of our lawsuit is to subject the practice of strategic monitoring of communications according to Paragraph 5 of the German federal law that regulates the surveillance powers of Germany's intelligence agencies, the Gesetz zur Beschränkung des Brief-, Post- und Fernmeldegeheimnisses, hereafter the G10 Act, in our company to a judicial review.
3. DE-CIX Management GmbH is a recipient of legal orders from the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst/BND) which have their basis in the G10 Act and which serve the purpose of “strategic signals intelligence”.
4. We have grave doubts about the legality of the current practice, not least on the basis of the recently published expert opinion of Prof. Hans-Jürgen Papier, retired President of the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht).
5. We consider ourselves under obligation to our customers to work towards a situation in which strategic surveillance of their telecommunications only takes place in a legal manner.
6. With the lawsuit, we seek judicial clarification and, in particular, legal certainty for our customers and our company.
   
   

DE-CIX Management GmbH has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany - represented by the Federal Ministry of the Interior - in the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) in Leipzig. The purpose of our lawsuit is to subject the practice of strategic monitoring of communications according to Paragraph 5 of the G10 Act by the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst) in our company to a judicial review. We have grave doubts about the legality of the current practice, not least on the basis of the recently published expert opinion of Prof. Hans-Jürgen Papier, retired President of the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht). We consider ourselves under obligation to our customers to work towards a situation in which strategic surveillance of their telecommunications only takes place in a legal manner. We seek a judicial clarification and, in particular, legal certainty for our customers and our company.

Contact: Carsten Titt – Senior Manager Global PR DE-CIX (Tel.: +49 (0)170 32 82 820)