Geheime Mohr Siebeck Geheime Daten

The dissertation examines the legal framework governing state data access rights vis-à-vis private companies (business-to-government data sharing), with a particular focus on the fundamental rights protection of trade secrets. It starts from the observation that data-driven governmental decision-making is a key prerequisite for rational public-interest policy. At the same time, in the data society, a substantial share of highly granular data is stored in the silos of private companies. This data covers central areas of public responsibility - such as mobility, health, the environment, energy, and disaster management. Due to economic incentive structures, companies retain it on a de facto exclusive basis. This gives rise to an asymmetric data landscape in which the state's informational and intervention capacities are structurally limited. The author contrasts this finding with a doctrinal analysis of the conditions under which the state may access privately held data. takes this finding as the occasion for a doctrinal analysis of the conditions under which the state may access privately held data. At its core lies the tension between the public interest in evidence-based decision-making and state innovation policy on the one hand, and the fundamental rights protection of economic freedoms on the other.Trade secrets participate in the protection afforded by economic fundamental rights; unconditional state access is therefore precluded. Against this background, the author clarifies fundamental constitutional and administrative law questions concerning state data access rights. Economic approaches are additionally drawn upon to assess the impact of data access rights on innovation, competition, and the data economy.The dissertation analyses existing and emerging national and European regulatory approaches - in particular the Data Act - and develops criteria for designing state data access rights in conformity with fundamental rights. It demonstrates how the tension between the public interest in data access and private interests in data secrecy can be legally balanced, thereby contributing to the doctrinal classification of business-to-government data sharing within European digital and data law.