What are coercive measures affecting telecommunications?

Tapping and surveillance of telecommunications as well as technical eavesdropping are coercive measures affecting telecommunications.

Tapping telecommunications means secretly listening to or recording telephone conversations and comparable monitoring of other messages transmitted through telecommunications networks.

Surveillance of telecommunications refers to a right to obtain information concerning the number and duration of calls made from or to a particular connection as well as the telephone numbers from which incoming calls are made. It can also include the right to close a connection temporarily.

Technical eavesdropping means secretly listening to or recording by means of technical equipment a conversation or oral message which is not intended for the knowledge of outsiders and in which the listener does not participate.

Only in the investigation of serious crimes

A court must, on the one hand, establish that the formal preconditions for tapping or surveillance of telecommunications, such as the gravity of the crime under investigation, are met and, on the other, consider the necessity of coercive measures in the criminal investigation.

The law requires that the information obtainable through surveillance can be assumed to be of very great significance in solving the crime. When a court decides to grant an order, it must determine such matters as the period of validity of the order and specify the telecommunications connections and persons to which the measure will apply.