In my declaratory action – funded via a crowdfunding campaign – against the Federal Police at the Administrative Court of Dresden (VG Dresden, case no. 6 K 1387/20), the court ruled based on the oral hearing of February 14, 2024:

It is established that the photocopying of the plaintiff’s national ID card by the Federal Police at the Dresden Police Station, Main Station precinct, on November 27, 2019, was unlawful. The remainder of the lawsuit is dismissed. The plaintiff shall bear 80 percent of the legal costs; the defendant, 20 percent. The ruling is provisionally enforceable with respect to the costs.

The written judgment is expected to be available in approximately two weeks.

Update from March 12, 2024:

I have now received the full written judgment from the Dresden Administrative Court. It is now official that the photocopying of my ID by the Federal Police Directorate in Pirna was “unlawful” and violated my rights. The judgment further states about the station supervisor’s actions: the Federal Police “erroneously exercised their discretion” under § 23 of the Federal Police Act. The measure constituted an “excess of discretion,” as it violated § 20 (2) sentence 1 of the German Identity Card Act.

However, the court found the stop and transport to the station to be “formally lawful,” as it was conducted in accordance with a directive from the Interior Ministry on the application of § 23 (1) no. 3 of the Federal Police Act. The Federal Police are permitted to conduct dragnet searches within a 30-kilometer radius of the federal border: “The 30-kilometer radius runs through the station area and extends roughly to the beginning of the office building ‘Prager Spitze.’ The area where the plaintiff was encountered still lies within this radius,” the judgment states.

Update from June 18, 2024:

I had previously filed a complaint with the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) over the copying of my ID by the Federal Police. At the time, the BfDI classified the measure as “lawful.” In response to my complaint, the BfDI has now withdrawn its decision, stating it was “partially unlawful.”

The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, since 2019 SPD politician Ulrich Kelber (see also my SPIEGEL publication “Der Bundeslurch”), failed to recognize that the Federal Police were not permitted to copy my ID without my consent. Back then, the BfDI justified the copy as a “time-saving measure”—now it calls it a “data protection violation,” an “unlawful data processing activity,” and a violation of the right to informational self-determination.

The BfDI has asked the Federal Police to take steps to “raise awareness” among their staff. However, it refrains from issuing a formal reprimand, citing discretionary grounds. Reason: the Federal Police had shown “cooperation” and had “already pledged” to raise awareness. Additionally, it was a “particularly unique individual case.” Kelber’s agency, even in its revised decision, maintains that the copying was carried out “with allegedly good intentions.”