Up to five years imprisonment possible: Ampel wants to severely punish vaccination passport forgers

Up to five years imprisonment possible
Traffic light wants to punish vaccination pass forgers harshly

By Alexander Schultze

Lately, there have been more and more forged vaccination passports – also because counterfeiters and users of the documents are hardly likely to be prosecuted due to a “criminal liability loophole”. The traffic light parties want to change this. Commercial counterfeiters in particular face high prison sentences.

The traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP want to change the criminality of vaccination passport forgery. The coalitionaries are in agreement about this initiative to contain the pandemic. The first fake vaccination passports appeared in April 2021. According to many state criminal police offices, their number has recently increased significantly. It is believed that the end of the free citizen tests on October 11th encouraged this development.

The problem so far has been that the Infection Protection Act, which was only updated in June 2021, made the punishment of vaccination passport forgers and users of forged vaccination passports practically impossible. This was because the issuing of falsified medical documents was only a criminal offense for medical personnel, such as doctors or pharmacists, but these groups of people were almost never involved in falsifications. On the other hand, the Criminal Code left a considerable gap in criminal liability. Private individuals could not be prosecuted for forgeries either, because deception with a forged vaccination certificate was only punishable by insurance companies and authorities. A more general regulation such as a forgery of documents did not apply due to the “Lex spezialialis”. This means that a more specific law – forgery of medical documents – blocks the application of a more general law – forgery of documents.

Up to two years in prison for vendors of forged vaccination records

The SPD, Greens and FDP now want to change that. First of all, the parties assume that the blocking effect of the “Lex spezialialis” does not exist and that the forgery of vaccination passports can be judged as a forgery of documents. In addition, sellers of forged vaccination passports are to be stopped by an amendment to Article 275 of the Criminal Code (StGB). The draft law states: “Anyone who prepares the production of an incorrect vaccination card by documenting a vaccination that has not been carried out in a Blankett vaccination card or by procuring a blankett vaccination card that has been supplemented in this way, for sale, keeping it, or giving it to someone else undertakes to introduce or to export is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine. “

Paragraphs 277 to 279 of the Criminal Code should be redrafted. In future paragraph 277 no longer states that “authorities or insurance companies” have to be deceived with forged health documentsto be guilty of “falsifying health certificates”, but only for someone who is not a doctor or medical professional to issue a health document. The penalty framework – one year imprisonment or a fine – remains in place. The deception of “authorities and insurance companies” should also be removed from paragraphs 278 and 279. Then medical personnel can be prosecuted if they issue forged vaccination certificates, no matter who they are used against. The range of punishment is up to two years in prison or a fine. In addition, users of forged vaccination certificates can be punished with up to one year imprisonment or a fine. If vaccination records are produced commercially or in a gang, there is even a risk of imprisonment from three months to five years.

The draft law was discussed in the first reading in the Federal Council on November 11th. Tomorrow, Thursday, the Bundestag will vote on the criminality of forged vaccination passports, among other things. The traffic light parties also want to enforce the 3G rule at work and in local public transport. In the future, there will be compulsory testing in nursing homes and home office compulsory where it can be implemented.

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