Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG), Federal Data Protection Act

Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG), BGBl. I S. 2097 (2017), as amended

A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.

What follows is LexLint's own research summary of this law, not legal advice.

In force since 25 May 2018.

A comprehensive regime rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 24 August 2026.

What it requires

Establish and document a lawful basis under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Article 6 before processing any personal data of a person in Germany.
Where you process employee data, including biometric data for workplace access or time and attendance, satisfy BDSG Section 26(3)'s stricter conditions rather than relying on employee consent alone.

What this law does

Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies directly in Germany, and the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG), BGBl. I S. 2097 (2017) as amended, supplies domestic derogations and procedural rules, most significantly Section 26 (employment data) and Sections 31 and 37 (credit-scoring automated decisions). Lawful bases otherwise follow GDPR Article 6 unmodified.

Enforcement is fragmented across 17 separate authorities: the federal BfDI, whose jurisdiction is limited to the federal public sector, telecommunications carriers, and postal providers, and 16 state Landesdatenschutzbehorden, which supervise the private sector and are each independent of the BfDI and of their own state government.

When LexLint raises it

crawls_web
trains_models
generates_content
deploys_chatbot
automated_outreach
high_risk_decisions
processes_voice
processes_biometrics

Read the law

Gesetze im Internet (official federal law portal), consolidated BDSG text

Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.

Back to the example · Lint your app