The Data Protection Authority for the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany suggests there is a need for legislation limiting the use of contact tracing data.
Anyone sitting in the beer garden should not later be questioned by the police with respect to an administrative offense or minor damage to property based on the fact that their name was recorded in a coronavirus guest list. Though access to the contact details can be useful for the police authorities to carry out their duties, these measures would only be proportionate if the citizens’ right to informational self-determination is only interfered with due to serious criminal offenses.
The solution is a law regulating the freedom-securing framework of data-intensive measures of infection protection nationwide. These include purpose limitation regulations, use bans and special rules for criminal prosecution, limiting access to the contact data collected for the purpose of infection protection only for serious criminal offenses and under the condition of procedural guarantees, such as judicial decisions thus successful infection protection.