GERMANY: Constitutional complaint against German census 2011

Germany will participate in the EU-wide population census scheduled for 2011. An EU regulation of July 9, 2008, obliges the Member States of the European Union to collect data by means of a fixed catalogue of characteristics, in the year 2011. The population census is used to determine how many people live in a country or in a town and what their housing and work is like, for instance. The last population censuses were conducted in the former territory of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1987 and in the former GDR in 1981.

On July 16, 2009, the Census Act 2011 entered into force in Germany. The act ordering the Census 2011 regulates the way in which the census 2011 will be taken by official statistics in Germany and lists the variables to be covered. In contrast to a traditional population census, not every household will be contacted for the register-based census, but administrative registers will predominantly be used to obtain the data. According to the act, the personal information collected will be linked up with a unique personal identification number. In its verdict on the first census in Germany in 1987, the Federal Constitutional Court found the creation of such a personal identification number to be in breach of the fundamental right to informational self-determination. It remains to be seen whether the court will uphold this finding with respect to the 2011 census; on  July 16 of this year, a constitutional complaint against the new act was filed with the Federal Constitutional Court. The complaint has the support of more than 13,000 plaintiffs.