(drawn up on 25 February 1985, updated on 15 December 2006)

 

Section 1 – Right of complaint

(1) Anyone is entitled to complain generally to the German Press Council about publications or proceedings in the German press. Furthermore, anyone who is of the opinion that the dissemination of personal information for journalistic and editorial purposes within the context of research or publication violates the right to data protection can also submit a complaint.

(2) The German Press Council can also institute complaint proceedings itself.

Section 2 – Contents of complaints

(1) Every complaint must be submitted in writing. It must state a reason for complaint and may include an application. The complaint should also include a relevant publication in original or a photocopy. Anonymous and obviously abusive complaints shall not be dealt with.

(2) The German Press Council does not usually accept any complaints concerning processes that themselves or whose first publication date back more than one year. In the case of complaints relating to violations of the right to data protection it shall be based on the moment when the complainant* became aware of them.

Section 3 – Scope of responsibility of the Complaints Committees

(1) With the exception of the cases of Sections 5 and 7 (2) – complaints shall be handled by the Complaints Committees.

(2) Complaints concerning possible violations of the right to data protection shall be dealt with by the Complaints Committee on Editorial Data Protection.

(3) At the request of two members of a Complaints Committee, a complaint shall be forwarded to the Plenum of the German Press Council.

(4) If the Complaints Committee finds indications of an obvious abuse of the right to complain, it shall pass on the complaint for a final decision on abuse to the Plenum of the German Press Council.

 

Section 4 – Scope of responsibility of the Plenum of the German Press Council

(1) The Plenum of the German Press Council is responsible for dealing with all complaints of fundamental significance. Moreover, it shall decide concluding whether a complaint was obviously made in abuse of the rules.

(2) The Plenum of the German Press Council is also responsible for dealing with all complaints forwarded by the relevant Complaints Committee pursuant to Section 3 (3).

(3) The Plenum of the German Press Council can assume responsibility for handling any complaint prior to the issuance of a final ruling by the Complaints Committee.

(4) In all cases where responsibility for handling a complaint is assumed by the Plenum, the parties involved shall be informed in writing.

(5) The Complaints Procedure shall apply accordingly to the procedure in the Plenum.

Section 5 – Prior scrutiny

(1) There shall be a prior scrutiny. If the German Press Council is obviously not responsible for the complaint, it shall notify the complainant and, where appropriate, inform him of the competent office.

(2) The German Press Council shall reject undecided or obviously unjustified complaints.

(3) The complainant shall have the opportunity to appeal within two weeks of the rejection being sent. The Complaints Committee shall decide on the appeal. It may either confirm the rejection pursuant to para. 2 or decide to launch a complaints procedure in accordance with Sections 6 ff.

Section 6 – Participation of the Respondent and Mediation

(1) Complaints that were not dealt with conclusively pursuant to Section 5 shall be sent to the respondent together with a request to make a statement on the complaint within three weeks of dispatch.

(2) The Press Council may mediate between the parties. The processing of a complaint shall be suspended during a mediation process of this kind; deadlines shall be deferred. In the event of successful mediation, the complaints procedure shall be ended. If a solution by mutual agreement is not reached, the complaints procedure shall be continued.

(3) The respondent shall be informed of the possibility to check for himself, before expiry of the deadline under para. 1, whether an infringement of the Press Code has taken place and whether he has rectified it according to section 4 or intends to do so.

(4) Adequate rectification shall include action by the respondent that is suitable for maintaining professional ethics and, thus, restoring the standing of the press. This action shall be public unless repeated publication about the event would contravene the interests of the party/parties concerned. In the event of a violation of editorial data protection (Section 1 (1) sentence 2) the party concerned must recognise the rectification by the respondent as adequate.

(5) After expiry of the deadline pursuant to para. 1, the Press Council will check whether the respondent has rectified the violation of the Press Code himself. If this is not the case or if the complainant does not recognise the rectification in the event of a violation of editorial data protection as adequate, the complaints procedure will continue according to the rules set out here.

Section 7 – Chairman’s Decision

(1) The Chairman of the Complaints Committee shall instigate the next action to prepare for a meeting, for example by obtaining a supplementary concluding statement from the parties. The incoming statements and information shall be passed on to the parties where they may be relevant to a decision.

(2) As far as simple complaints are concerned, the Chairman may, by means of the Chairman’s decision,
- Reject them as unjustified or
- Declare them to be justified and waive action,
- Declare them to be justified and issue a notice (Section 12 (5)).
The Complaints Committee shall be notified of the key reasons for the Chairman’s Decision.

(3) The parties shall have the opportunity to appeal within two weeks of the Chairman’s Decision being sent. The Complaints Committee shall decide on this.

Section 8 –- Preparations for hearings

(1) The members of the competent Complaints Committee, their deputies, the chairmen of the other complaints committees and one representative each from the sponsoring organisations shall be invited to the hearings. The other members of the Plenum may take part in the meeting of the complaints committee concerned after registration. They shall all receive the whole complaint. Employees from the branch office may be present.

(2) Furthermore, parties (complainants, respondents) and witnesses may be invited.

(3) The invitations will be extended in writing. They must contain the time and place of the hearing. The invitation shall be sent at the latest four weeks before the meeting. The invited parties must confirm their attendance up to two weeks before the meeting.

(4) In all cases of a hearing the parties concerned shall receive notification, which must contain:
1. the time and place of the meeting,
2. the names of the participants,
3. their right to challenge any participant on grounds of presumed partiality,
4. the fact that the committee can rule on the matter even in the absence of one of the invited parties,
5. the fact that the committee can rule on the matter even if a respondent has failed to respond to the complaint (Section 6 (1)),
6. the names of any witnesses invited.

Section 9 – Lack of impartiality

(1) Individual participants pursuant to Section 8 can be challenged on grounds of presumed partiality or can declare themselves biased if there is reason for justified doubts about their impartiality.

(2) The application for rejection must be submitted in writing and justified to the competent committee on time.

(3) The competent complaints committee shall decide on the rejection application without the member concerned. Each challenge will be judged on its merits. Decisions are not contestable.

(4) Members of the German Press Council shall be deemed to be prejudiced if the subject of the complaint concerns themselves, their own publishing house or their own editorial team.

(5) Participants who are prejudiced pursuant to Section 9 (1) to (4) shall be excluded from the discussions and rulings on the matter.

Section 10 – Hearings

(1) The chairman shall conduct the hearing which is not open to the public. The members of the complaints committee shall be entitled to vote; if they are absent their deputies shall be entitled to vote.

(2) A record of the hearing is to be produced, documenting the basic content of the proceedings. Any petitions submitted by the parties concerned and rulings delivered by the adjudicating body must be recorded verbatim or appended to the record of the hearing as annexes.

(3) Any member of the adjudicating body can request that individual statements be recorded verbatim.

Section 11 – Recommendations and advice notices

Advice notices and recommendations capable of rectifying (clarifying) a situation and, if applicable, producing amicable agreement between the parties concerned are possible at any stage of the proceedings.

Section 12 – Rulings

(1) The complaints committee is not bound to comply with petitions submitted by the parties concerned. If the complaint is withdrawn by the complainant, the committee may adhere to processing the complaint for reasons of press ethics. The parties shall be informed of aspects that are key to the ruling in plenty of time in order to give them another opportunity to make a statement on this aspect.

(2) The complaints committee will appraise any documents submitted, information received and witness statements made according to its own independent convictions.

(3) A complaint can be rejected on the grounds that it is inadmissible or unfounded.

(4) A complaints procedure shall be halted if the facts of the matter cannot be ascertained.

(5) If a complaint is justified
1. an advice notice
2. a disapproval
3. a reprimand
may be issued. In spite of a justified complaint, in individual cases the complaints committee may waive action.

(6) Processing a complaint may be suspended if
1. a ruling on it could influence the outcome of a pending criminal investigation or court case,
2. an appraisal of interests reveals that this possibility of influence outweighs the interest of one of the parties in the Press Council’s rulings and
3. suspension does not stand in the way of fundamental press-ethical considerations.

(7) The final, written ruling shall be justified, signed by the chairman and shall be sent to the parties at the latest three weeks after the end of the hearing.

(8) The sponsoring organisations of the German Press Council will publish reprimands in their association publications in accordance with Section 15.

Section 13 – Bases for rulings

In weighing up the question of whether a notice of censure, a reprimand or merely an advice notice should be issued, the adjudicating body must take account, among other things, of the gravity of the infringement, the consequences of publication for the person or persons affected and any steps taken by the respondent to mitigate such consequences and/or avoid their recurrence. In the event of a change in the adjudicatory practice of the German Press Council, only an advice notice may be issued.

Section 14 – Confidentiality

The members of the German Press Council, the representatives of the sponsoring organisations in the Press Council and the employees of the Press Council shall maintain confidentiality concerning the discussions and documents. Prior to delivering a ruling, the members of the German Press Council will issue public statements only on the formal status of the proceedings and not in a way indicating how they intend to vote.

Section 15 – Obligation to publish

Under Article 16 of the Press Code, reprimands must be published appropriately in the publications concerned. The complaints committee can waive the obligation to publish if such a waiver is deemed necessary to protect the interests of an affected person.

Section 16 – Re-opening of proceedings

The rulings of an adjudicating body (Complaints Committee, Complaints Committee on Editorial Data Protection or Plenum of the German Press Council) are subject to appeal. Resumption of the completed complaints proceedings shall be permitted if the complainant or respondent applies for this without undue delay and either
1. new facts are presented which, on their own or in conjunction with previous findings, fundamentally change the balance of arguments on which the contested ruling was based or
2. aspects that are key to the ruling have not been notified or considered in time by the German Press Council.

Section 17 – Procedures

Internal procedures shall be regulated in the Rules of Procedure.