Deutsche Post DHL

The German government is working on a new law that requires people working for private postal services to report drug packages of drugs to German law enforcement.

The German Federal parliament (Bundestag) approved a draft law that seeks to change the way suspicious packages are handled by postal services. Suspicious packages, refer to drugs and other substances that violate german law.

Drug trafficking via the Internet is flourishing in these times and repeatedly poses immense challenges to law enforcement and the judiciary. Today’s amendment to the Postal Service Act is an important step in the fight against drug-related crime. Drug packages are not for the mailbox at home, but a case for the police. If with this law, we manage to intercept even one package before it reaches the recipient, then the effort will be worth it!

Drug Commissioner of the Federal Government, Daniela Ludwig

This law requires that, employees at postal services have must hand a package over to German law enforcement when there is “sufficient actual indications of a criminal offense” under “the Narcotics Act, the New Psychoactive Substances Act, the Medicines Act, and the Anti-Doping Act.” The Postal Act only gives employees of postal services the power to interfere with the delivery of packages in a limited set of situations to prevent violation of postal secrecy.

In, Section 39(4) employees at postal services are only allowed to open packages when they can’t be delivered in an effort to find more information about the receipent. If the employees at the postal service discovers drugs or other illegal items in the damaged package, they can report it to German law enforcement “if it poses a physical danger to people or property.”

German postal services

In the new law, it is mandatory that employees of postal services identify suspicious packages and hand them over to law enforcement. This change will also affect damaged packages under Section 39(4). Damaged postal packages are very common; The Deutsche Post has reported that it processed approximately 16,000 damaged packages daily in 2018. At the end of the year, the Deutsche Post opened as much as 12,000 damaged packages which contained drugs and other contraband.

Effects of German law

Any postal Company that does not enforce this change will face a fine of that can go as high as 500,000 euros.

This could have serious effects on the dark web drug trade.