West Germany planned a census for the spring of 1983. Numerous citizens’ initiatives called for a boycott. On 13 April 1983, the day after the first hearing, the Federal Constitutional Court suspended the census law. On 15 December 1983, it declared many of the law’s provisions void and set out a new basic right, the right to informational self-determination. A society in which citizens can no longer know wer was wann und bei welcher Gelegenheit über sie weiß, who knows what about them, when and on what occasion, would not be compatible with it. The census was partly redesigned. Personal data were separated from the questionnaires, and the forms were revised. It took place in 1987, with the reference date of 25 May.