Google must register Gmail in Germany as a telecommunications service, the court of Cologne, Germany, has ruled. the judgment could have major consequences for internet services in Germany, including the requirements for data protection and retrieval.
The verwaltungsgericht Köln has already handed down its verdict on 11 November, but was not published until Wednesday. Gmail is a telecommunications service within the meaning of the German Telecommunications Act and must therefore be registered as such with the telecommunications authority, according to the verdict. Google can still appeal. It is not known whether the company will use this, but this is likely.
The telecom authority, the Bundesnetzagentur, has been at odds with Google over the issue since 2012. Google defended itself by stating that it does not control the technical signal transmission over the open internet for e-mails. The court did not agree.
“Even if Google does not use its own telecommunications network for the signal transmission, but the open internet, that transmission is mainly attributable to the e-mail service,” said the court. The decision could have major implications for internet services in the country. They will have to deal with more rights and obligations, including in the area of complying with government requests. According to Heise, telecom providers such as Deutsche Telekom have been pressing for some time to align the rules for telecom services with those for internet services.