Court case RN 9 K 19.1061 – Court Ruling (Germany, 2020)

The applicant seeks an order that the City of P. refrain from video surveillance of the "P.er K.-garten" and from recording it. In a letter dated 23 November 2017, the Police Inspectorate P. provided the defendant with information on the "P.er K.-garten" as a basis for possible political initiatives for municipal video surveillance. In this letter it is stated that the K.-garten has been a police focus for years, especially during the warm months (April to October). On 14 May 2018, the defendant's city council decided to install video surveillance. Signs were missing at other entrances to the K.-garten and in some places they were installed in an area that was already covered by the cameras. Because of its open design, the K.-garten could be entered without being able to see the signs. A detailed note on the modalities of the video surveillance was only attached to the surveillance house. The operating hours of the video surveillance were between 6:00 and 1:00 am. The claimant argued that the installed video surveillance in a park is not necessary to prevent a.o. drug-related crimes. Moreover, the surveillance should not only be turned off entirely on market days, but also during other events which he would like to initiate. 1. Article 79 GDPR precludes further judicial remedies against controllers and processors, so that a general action for performance in the form of an action for an injunction pursuant to §§ 1004 (1) and 823 (2) of the German Civil Code is not permissible within the scope of the GDPR. 2. A distinction must be made between data processing that is (merely) contrary to the Regulation and a possible infringement of a person's rights with regard to the personal data relating exclusively to that person. 3. In the case of a mere unlawful data processing without any infringement of rights, the data subject has the right of appeal under Article 77(1) GDPR and subsequently the right of judicial remedy against the supervisory authority under Article 78(