Country-of-origin principle

(1) Service providers and their digital services that are established in Germany under section 2 are subject to the requirements of German law even where the digital services are offered or disseminated on a commercial basis, within the scope of application of Directive 2000/31/EC and Directive 2010/13/EU, in another Member State, insofar as Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 does not apply directly.
(2) The free movement of digital services that, within the scope of application of Directives 2000/31/EC and 2010/13/EU, are offered or disseminated on a commercial basis in Germany by service providers established in another Member State is not restricted, subject to paragraphs 5 to 7.
(3) Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not affect:
1. the freedom to choose the applicable law,
2. the provisions on contractual obligations relating to consumer contracts,
3. statutory provisions on the form required for the acquisition of land and rights equivalent to land, and on the form required for creating, transferring, amending or extinguishing rights in rem in land and rights equivalent to land, and
4. the law applicable to the protection of personal data.
(4) Paragraphs 1 and 2 do not apply to
1. the activity of notaries and of members of other professions, insofar as these also exercise official authority,
2. the representation of clients and the pursuit of their interests before the courts,
3. the permissibility of unsolicited commercial communications by electronic mail,
4. games of chance involving a stake representing a monetary value, including lotteries and betting,
5. the requirements applicable to distribution services,
6. copyright, related rights, rights within the meaning of Council Directive 87/54/EEC of 16 December 1986 on the legal protection of topographies of semiconductor products (OJ L 24, 27.1.1987, p. 36) and Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20), as well as industrial property rights,
7. the issuance of electronic money by institutions exempted, under Article 8(1) of Directive 2000/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on the taking up, pursuit of and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions (OJ L 275, 27.10.2000, p. 39), from the application of some or all of the provisions of that Directive and from the application of Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (OJ L 126, 25.5.2000, p. 1),
8. agreements or conduct subject to competition law,
9. matters covered by sections 39, 57 to 59, 61 to 65, 146, 241 to 243b, 305, 306 to 306b of the Insurance Supervision Act of 1 April 2015 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 434), as last amended by Article 11 of the Act of 27 December 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024 I No. 438), matters covered by the provisions of the Insurance Reporting Ordinance of 19 July 2017 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 2858), as last amended by Article 1 of the Ordinance of 11 December 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024 I No. 414), the provisions on the law applicable to insurance contracts, and the terms applying to the offer and conclusion of insurance policies to satisfy a compulsory insurance requirement prescribed in a Member State.
(5) The offering of digital services other than audiovisual media services by a service provider established in another Member State may be restricted by measures based on German law, provided that
1. this serves to protect the following protected interests against impairment or against serious and grave risks:
a) public security and order, including the protection of minors, in particular with regard to aa) the prevention, investigation, detection, prosecution and enforcement of criminal offences and regulatory offences, bb) combating incitement based on race, sex, religion or nationality, cc) infringements of the human dignity of individual persons, or dd) safeguarding national security and defence interests,
b) public health, or
c) the interests of consumers and the interests of investors, and
2. the measures under consideration on the basis of German law are proportionate to the protected interests under no. 1. Measures under the first sentence, no. 2 are permissible only where the procedures required under Article 3(4)(b) and (5) of Directive 2000/31/EC have been observed; this does not affect judicial proceedings, including any preliminary proceedings, and the prosecution of criminal offences, including the enforcement of sentences, and of regulatory offences.
(6) By way of derogation from paragraph 2, the free reception and further transmission of audiovisual media services from other Member States may be temporarily impaired where those audiovisual media services
1. manifestly, seriously and gravely contain:
a) an incitement to violence or hatred directed against a group of persons or a member of a group of persons based on any of the grounds referred to in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1),
b) a public provocation to commit a terrorist offence under Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA (OJ L 88, 31.3.2017, p. 6),
c) an infringement of the requirements for the protection of minors under Article 6a(1) of Directive 2010/13/EU, or
2. constitute an impairment, or a serious and grave risk of impairment, to
a) public health,
b) public security, or
c) the safeguarding of national security and defence interests.
(7) The offering of digital services may be restricted by orders to act against illegal content under Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 and to provide information under Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. These orders are not subject to the requirements of paragraphs 5 and 6.