Image rights at youth regattas: consent, notice of race, livestream

What applies to photos and livestreams with minors?

Photos and videos in which people can be identified are personal data. Taking and publishing them requires a legal basis and informing the people concerned. Under the GDPR (DSGVO, the EU General Data Protection Regulation), children enjoy special protection; this is stated explicitly in Art. 6(1)(f), the provision on legitimate interests.

How strictly this is interpreted for sports events varies:

• Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (Bavarian Data Protection Authority): pictures of club life and competitions can generally be based on legitimate interests, including with children, but with sensitivity. In its own words: “If in doubt, the rule is: better to obtain the consent of the parent or guardian!”
• Landessportbund Sachsen (Saxony State Sports Federation): photos of minors always require the express consent of the parents or guardians.
• Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg data protection commissioner): refers to the consent of parents or guardians for photos of minors.
• Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony data protection commissioner): with pictures of children, an overriding need for protection should in particular be assumed.
• Research Services of the German Bundestag: streaming competitions involving children is particularly problematic; a live broadcast is more intrusive than a photo on the club website.

Which authority is responsible depends on where the club is registered. So a club in Berlin does not ask in Bavaria.

Who gives consent, and from what age does the child's own consent count?

Parents represent their child jointly. For publishing photos of children online, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (OLG Düsseldorf) requires the consent of both parents where custody is shared (decision of 20 July 2021, 1 UF 74/21).

The law does not say from what age the child's own consent counts. The age limit of 16 in Art. 8 GDPR only applies to information society services; the Research Services of the Bundestag describe the capacity of minors to consent at sports events as “still completely unresolved”. A common rule of thumb: from around age 14, parents and the young person give consent together. The sports federations differ:

To be on the safe side, get the signature of both parents up to age 18, and from age 14 that of the young person as well.

What belongs in the notice of race?

Many notices of race contain a sentence such as “By entering, participants consent to photo and video recordings”. But consent must be freely given; tying it to participation conflicts with the GDPR's prohibition on making consent a condition (the so-called coupling ban). It is better to separate things:

1. Media clause in the notice of race and sailing instructions: announces the livestream, photos, onboard cameras, media boats, drones and interviews, and refers to the privacy notice.
2. Privacy notice posted with a QR code and on the website: who is responsible, what the pictures are used for, how to object.
3. Consent in modules, each with its own tick box, for example via the entry portal: close-ups, interview, first name in captions, advertising. Participation does not depend on it.

Livestreams at youth regattas: a cautious approach

Separating by shot size has proved useful. Whether this holds up legally for youth events has not been finally settled; if in doubt, have it reviewed.

• Wide shots and fleet (start line, boats without close-ups): based on legitimate interests, with information in advance and a practical way to object.
• Always with consent: close-ups, interviews, naming people, galleries with an option to buy, advertising and sponsor communication.
• Make objections visible: anyone who should not be shown in focus gets a marker that camera operators and the production gallery can recognise.
• Never: names together with home town, school or social media profile; pictures of injuries, changing or other embarrassing situations.
• In case of accidents: turn cameras away, publish nothing until the event management has decided.

Checklist for the club

1. Find out the share of minorsNone, a few or mostly minors in the fleet? The effort required depends on this.
2. Publish the media clause and privacy noticewith the notice of race and sailing instructions, and on a notice at the race office.
3. Obtain consentvia the entry portal, with fields for both parents or guardians and, from age 14, for the young person.
4. Have objection markers readyand brief the production gallery, camera operators and photographers.
5. Agree the livestream separatelyDecide shot sizes, interviews and onboard cameras for youth classes with the media team in advance.
6. Set a process for withdrawal and deletionWho receives requests, and how quickly are pictures removed from the gallery and channels?

What is still unresolved

Three points in particular remain open: from what age young people can consent on their own; whether the split between wide shots and close-ups holds up at youth events without consent from all parents; and where journalistic reporting ends and pictures commissioned by the organiser begin. For the press, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has ruled that regional sports events can also be events of contemporary history (judgment of 28 May 2013, VI ZR 125/12); this does not apply to advertising.

Sources

1. Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht (Bavarian Data Protection Authority), practical guide “Bilder und Verein” (Pictures and clubs), 16 May 2019, lda.bayern.de (in German).
2. Landessportbund Sachsen, Data protection: photos in clubs (in German), accessed 1 October 2026.
3. Die Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Niedersachsen, Taking and publishing photographs of people under the GDPR (in German), 06/2018.
4. Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestags (Research Services of the German Bundestag), WD 10 3000 058/20, Liveübertragungen von Amateursportveranstaltungen (live broadcasts of amateur sports events), 16 December 2020, bundestag.de (in German).
5. Landessportverband für das Saarland, Template consent form for photographs (in German), 12 December 2024.
6. Bayerischer Landes-Sportverband (BLSV), FAQ DSGVO im Sportverein (GDPR in sports clubs), 29 October 2018 (copy from a club: tv-schierling-1911.de (in German)); check the current version with the BLSV.
7. Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz Baden-Württemberg, FAQ on publishing photos, specifically for clubs (in German), accessed 1 October 2026.
8. OLG Düsseldorf, decision of 20 July 2021, 1 UF 74/21; BGH, judgment of 28 May 2013, VI ZR 125/12 (cited in WD 10 3000 058/20).
9. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, DSGVO), Art. 6, 7 and 8, eur-lex.europa.eu (in German).