Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Police Office)
Retrospective facial recognition against the police photograph database, supplied by Cognitec Systems
OperationalJournalismPAI-D06F8B8F
- Body
- Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Police Office)
- Country
- Austria
- Area
- National
- Technology
- Retrospective facial recognition against the police photograph database
- Supplier
- Cognitec Systems
- Status
- Operational
In routine use by the named body, on the evidence of a public source. - Stage
- In use now
- Since
- August 2020
- Legal basis
- Police have relied on section 75 of the Sicherheitspolizeigesetz. In a decision reported on 26 July 2026 the Datenschutzbehoerde found that provision insufficient to authorise automated biometric comparison, holding that there is currently no adequate legal basis for it. The Interior Ministry said it would appeal to the Bundesverwaltungsgericht, and the decision was not final when reported.
- Oversight
- Datenschutzbehoerde, the Austrian data protection authority, which upheld a complaint brought by the digital rights organisation epicenter.works on behalf of an activist photographed at a climate protest in Vienna in March 2023 and later matched using facial recognition. Parliamentary scrutiny has run through written questions to the Interior Minister.
- Evidence
- Journalism
Named reporting by a reputable outlet - Source
- ORF
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-D06F8B8F
Notes
The deployment itself is well established. ORF, the Austrian public broadcaster, reported on 8 September 2020 that the system passed from roughly a year of testing into regular operation at the start of August 2020, that it had been used 581 times and had identified 83 suspects by that point, that it cost 450,000 euros, and that it compares images against an Interior Ministry photograph database of suspects. Netzpolitik.org, 16 September 2020, gives the vendor as Cognitec Systems of Dresden, the software cost as 448,813 euros, the database as the police Lichtbilddatei of photographs from earlier criminal proceedings, the same figure of 581 searches, and reports that the system was used on images from the summer 2020 protests in the Favoriten district of Vienna, where 47 known persons were identified. The two cost figures are the same number reported gross and net and are not treated as a conflict. All usage figures date from 2020 and no current figures were found; they are recorded here rather than in a field for that reason. The legal finding is the significant recent development: reporting by the Austrian news agency APA on 26 July 2026, carried by Salzburger Nachrichten and others, and by epicenter.works on 23 July 2026, establishes that the Datenschutzbehoerde found the use of automated facial recognition on protest photographs unlawful for want of a sufficient legal basis. The status remains operational because nothing read establishes that use has stopped - the Interior Ministry publicly defended the system and announced an appeal. No parliamentary answer was read directly in this run: the Austrian Parliament's page for answer 6962/AB confirms the answer was given by Interior Minister Karl Nehammer on 16 August 2021 but the substance sits in a linked PDF that was not retrieved.