Connectivity — Germany

Germany bans an entire class of gadget outright: any device disguised as an everyday object that can secretly record sound or video. It is illegal to possess one and illegal to bring one into the country - the regulator names children's smartwatches with a voice-monitoring or baby-phone function, GPS trackers, robot vacuums, toys and drones. If you own one, the Bundesnetzagentur tells you to destroy it and keep proof; you cannot just put it in the bin.

Manufacturing such a device or making it available on the market: up to 2 years' imprisonment or a fine, and up to 1 year if merely negligent (TDDDG Paragraf 27(1) no. 3 and (2)). Advertising one: administrative fine up to EUR 10,000 (Paragraf 28). Possession and import are prohibited by Paragraf 8(1) but carry no fine of their own - the Bundesnetzagentur's remedy is destruction with documented proof. Separately, operating a signal jammer is unauthorised spectrum use and carries an administrative fine of up to EUR 500,000 (TKG Paragraf 91(1) with Paragraf 228(2) no. 17 and Paragraf 228(6) no. 2). CONFLICT RECORDED, NOT RESOLVED: the Bundesnetzagentur's consumer page instead states it can fine "Hersteller, Verkaeufer, Kaeufer oder Nutzer" of non-compliant radio equipment up to EUR 100,000, matching FuAG Paragraf 37(2) and EMVG Paragraf 33(2); the two ceilings attach to different offences and no official source reconciles them for a jammer. EMVG Paragraf 33(3) also allows the equipment to be confiscated.