Telemedia Act

The Telemedia Act (Telemediengesetz, TMG) applies to all providers of electronic information and communication services, such as ISPs, to the extent that they are not providing telecommunications services. The Telemedia Act, which is based on the EU E-Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC), lists three types of service providers that are exempted from a potential liability under certain requirements (safe harbors): (1) mere access providers (Section 8 TMG), (2) caching providers (Section 9 TMG), and (3) hosting providers (Section 10 TMG). The Telemedia Act also provides that service providers in the meaning of Sections 8 to 10 are not required to monitor the information transmitted or stored by them or to search for circumstances indicating an illegal activity (Section 7 paragraph 2 TMG).