Pursuant to Article 5 Paragraph 1 of German Basic Law (Freedom of Expression), no censorship takes place in Germany.
Notwithstanding this, Article 5 Paragraph 2 of German Basic Law (GG) states that the right to free expression “is limited (…) by statutory provision for the protection of children and young persons”, i.e. by the provisions made in the German Children and Young Persons Protection Act (JuSchG).
This means that German age rating symbols for computer and console games restrict access for children and young persons only. Due to the fact that adults have legal access to “indexed” and non-rated games, this cannot be considered to constitute censorship.
