[Data protection as a personal right. Government Agency]

The sector-specific secrets are traditionally regarded as the historical predecessors of general data protection law. The lecture demonstrates that they are not only aimed at protecting the individual's right to self-determination of the handling of his personal data. It also indicates that those particular secrets are, at the same time, serving for further purposes which are of importance in their respective sectors. The general (omnibus) data protection statues are given attention in the light of the beginning of automated information processing and in their role of guaranteeing the right to personal privacy, a role which the Federal Constitutional Court underlined in its census decision of 1983 and which became of general relevance in the course of the further developments. In conclusion, the report particularizes that, inter alia, statutory adaptations and amendments are necessary in order to preserve the effects of the doctor-patient confidentiality under the conditions of modern data processing. The examples given are comprising: health data on chip cards, health data in networks and the electronic record of the patient.