Federal German Data Protection Commissioner

The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI, ), referring to either a person or the agency they lead, is tasked with supervising data protection as well as acting in an ombudsman function in freedom of information. The latter was introduced with the German Freedom of Information Act on 1 January 2006. In 2016, it became an independent federal agency under EU regulations.Sertan Sanderson (17 June 2015)
Commissioner slams data retention policies
''Deutsche Welle''.

Organization

Before the commencement of the German Freedom of Information Act, the title was "Federal Commissioner for Data Protection (BfD)".

The Commissioner is nominated by the German Federal Government and elected by the German Bundestag. During their time in office, the Commissioner receives remuneration in the amount commensurate with a federal official in salary group B 11. In this regard, the Commissioner's status is that of a public law official but not that of a civil servant. The Commissioner's term of office is five years, and they can be reelected once.

The Federal Commissioner's budget is accounted for in its budgetary section. The necessary personnel and facilities are to be made available to the Commissioner under legal regulations. Given the Commissioner's independent status, positions at the Federal Commissioner are filled by themself exclusively.

Responsibilities

The Federal Commissioner is the German Federal supervisory authority in the meaning of Art. 51 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to Art. 52 GDPR, the Federal Commissioner is a completely independent supervisory authority. His tasks and powers are mainly based on Art. 57 and 58 GDPR and the Federal Data Protection Act ''(Bundesdatenschutzgesetz)''. His legal position and the procedure of his establishment are subject to the provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act. His competence is limited to supervision of the entire public sector at the federal level and of telecommunications and postal services providers. The public sector of the Laender, as well as the remaining private sector, is supervised by the Data Protection Supervisory Authorities of the Laender. The Federal Commissioner publishes an annual activity report (Art. 59 GDPR).

The right to refuse to give evidence is available to the Federal Commissioner regarding persons and facts with which comes into contact in his capacity as Federal Commissioner (FDPA sec 13, para 5). He is also authorized to decide about his employees' refusal to give evidence.

List of commissioners

ImageSize = width:200 Height:400
PlotArea = left:40 right:0 bottom:80 top:20
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:14/02/1978 till:04/04/2025
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical format:yyyy
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1980
ScaleMinor = increment:5 start:1980
Colors=
id:BDB value:rgb(0.7,0.7,0.7)

PlotData=
bar:Datenschutzbeauftragte color:BDB width:20 fontsize:M align:left shift:(20,-5) mark:(line,white)

from:start till:16/05/1983 text:Hans_Peter_Bull color:red
from:16/05/1983 till:09/06/1988 text: Reinhold_Baumann color:BDB
from:09/06/1988 till:30/06/1993 text: Alfred_Einwag color:BDB
from:01/07/1993 till:17/12/2003 text: Joachim_Jacob color:yellow
from:17/12/2003 till:16/12/2013 text:Peter_Schaar color:green
from:06/01/2014 till:05/01/2019 text: Andrea_Voßhoff color:black
from:07/01/2019 till:06/01/2024 text: Ulrich_Kelber color:red

from:03/09/2024 till:end text: Louisa_Specht-Riemenschneider color:BDB

* Hans Peter Bull (14 February 1978 to 16 May 1983)
* (16 May 1983 to 9 June 1988)
* (9 June 1988 to 30 June 1993)
* (1 July 1993 to 17 December 2003)
* (17 December 2003 to 16 December 2013)
* Andrea Voßhoff (19 December 2013 to 5 January 2019)
* Ulrich Kelber (7 January 2019 to 6 January 2024)

* (3 September 2024 to present)

See also

* Information commissioner

References

External links

*

{{Portal bar, Germany, Law

Data protection authorities
Federal authorities in Bonn
Federal law enforcement agencies of Germany
Government agencies established in 1978
1978 establishments in West Germany