In brief

A search generally requires a judicial warrant. It must state the allegation and the evidence sought in concrete terms. Whatever you say or hand over voluntarily during the search can hardly be retrieved later.

For an accused person, Section 102 StPO allows a search where it can be presumed to lead to evidence. For third parties, such as an employer or a flatmate, Section 103 StPO demands more: facts must indicate that what is sought is located there. As a rule only a court may order a search (Section 105(1) StPO). Prosecutors and police may do so themselves only where there is imminent danger, and the Federal Constitutional Court requires that exception to be handled narrowly and justified in the file.

The warrant must describe the allegation and the items sought precisely enough to keep the intrusion limited. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, a warrant generally no longer supports a search once it is more than six months old. At night, between 9 pm and 4 am in the summer half-year and 9 pm and 6 am in winter, a home may only be searched in exceptional cases (Section 104 StPO).

Procedure and your rights on site

You may be present (Section 106 StPO). If no judge or prosecutor is there, Section 105(2) StPO requires independent witnesses to be called. At the end there is a list of the items secured (Section 107 StPO), which you may sign but need not. Phones and computers are often taken only provisionally for examination (Section 110 StPO); the analysis then takes months.

Our advice: stay calm, ask to see the warrant and photograph it, call your lawyer immediately, say nothing about the case, not even casually. Hand nothing over voluntarily; instead object expressly to the items being taken and have the objection recorded. That turns the securing of items into a formal seizure, which a court can review.

A complaint against the warrant is possible even when the search is over. The aim then is a finding that it was unlawful. This is more than symbolic: a serious error can lead to exclusion of evidence. More often the practical benefit is that the complaint shows us early on what the suspicion rests on.

General explanation, not advice on an individual case. As of November 2026.