Section 267 Forgery
(1) Whosoever for the purpose of deception in legal commerce produces a counterfeit document, falsifies a genuine document or uses a counterfeit or a falsified document, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
(2) The attempt shall be punishable.
(3) In especially serious cases the penalty shall be imprisonment from six months to ten years. An especially serious case typically occurs if the offender
1. acts on a commercial basis or as a member of a gang whose purpose is the continued commission of fraud or forgery;
2. causes major financial loss;
3. substantially endangers the security of legal commerce through a large number of counterfeit or falsified documents; or
4. abuses his powers or his position as a public official.
(4) Whosoever commits forgery on a commercial basis as a member of a gang whose purpose is the continued commission of offences under sections 263 to 264 or sections 267 to 269 shall be liable to imprisonment from one to ten years, in less serious cases to imprisonment from six months to five years.
Section 268
Forgery of technical records
(1) Whosoever for the purpose of deception in legal commerce
1. produces a counterfeit technical record or falsifies a technical record or 2. uses a counterfeit or falsified technical record
shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
(2) A technical record shall mean a presentation of data, measurements or calculations, conditions or sequences of events, which, in whole or in part, is produced automatically by a technical device, allows the object of the record to be recognised either generally or by informed persons and is intended as proof of a legally relevant fact, regardless of whether this was already the purpose of the presentation when it was produced or only later. (3) It shall be equivalent to the production of a counterfeit technical record if the offender influences the result of the record by interfering with the recording process.
(4) The attempt shall be punishable.
(5) Section 267(3) and (4) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
Section 269
Forgery of data intended to provide proof
(1) Whosoever for the purposes of deception in legal commerce stores or modifies data intended to provide proof in such a way that a counterfeit or falsified document would be created upon their retrieval, or uses data stored or modified in such a manner, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
(2) The attempt shall be punishable.
Section 270
Meaning of deception in the context of data processing
Falsely influencing data processing operations in legal commerce shall be equivalent to deception in legal commerce.
Section 271
Causing wrong entries to be made in public records
(1) Whosoever causes declarations, negotiations or facts which are of relevance for rights or legal relationships to be recorded or stored in public documents, books, data storage media or registers as having been made or having occurred, when they either were not made or did not occur, or were made or occurred differently or were made by a person lacking a
professed quality or by a different person, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine.
(2) Whosoever for the purpose of deception in legal commerce uses a false certification or stored data of the type indicated in subsection (1) above shall incur the same penalty. (3) If the offender acts for material gain or with the intent of enriching himself or a third person or of harming another person the penalty shall be imprisonment from three months to five years.
(4) The attempt shall be punishable.
Section 272
(repealed)
Section 273
Tampering with official identity documents
(1) Whosoever for the purpose of deception in legal commerce
1. removes, renders unrecognisable, covers up or suppresses an entry in an official identity document or removes a single page from an official identity document or 2. uses an official identity document altered in such a way,
shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine unless the offence is punishable under section 267 or section 274.
(2) The attempt shall be punishable.
Section 274
Suppression of documents; changing a border mark
(1) Whosoever
1. destroys, damages or suppresses a document or a technical record which does not belong to him or not exclusively to him with the intent of causing damage to another; 2. deletes, suppresses, renders unusable or alters legally relevant data (section 202a(2)), which are not or not exclusively at his disposal, with the intent of causing damage to another; or
3. takes away, destroys, renders unrecognisable, moves or falsely places a border stone or another sign intended as a designation of a border or water level with the intent of causing damage to another,
shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine. (2) The attempt shall be punishable.
Section 275
Preparatory acts to tampering with official identity documents
(1) Whosoever prepares for counterfeiting of official identity documents by producing, procuring for himself or another, offering for sale, storing, supplying to another, or undertaking to import or export
1. plates, frames, type, blocks, negatives, stencils or similar equipment which by its nature is suited to the commission of the offence or
2. paper, which is identical to the type of paper or can be easily confused with paper which is used in the production of official identity documents and is especially protected against imitation or
3. blank forms for official identity documents,
shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine.
(2) If the offender acts on a commercial basis or as a member of a gang whose purpose is the continued commission of offences under subsection (1) above the penalty shall be imprisonment from three months to five years.
(3) Section 149(2) and (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
Section 276
Acquisition of false official identity documents
(1) Whosoever
1. undertakes to import or export; or,
2. with the intent of using it to facilitate a deception in legal commerce, procures for himself or another, stores or supplies to another
a counterfeit or falsified official identity document or an official identity document which contains a false certification of the type indicated in section 271and section 348 shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine.
(2) If the offender acts on a commercial basis or as a member of a gang, whose purpose is the continued commission of offences under subsection (1) above the penalty shall be imprisonment from three months to five years.
Section 276a
Papers relating to rights of residence; vehicle papers
Section 275 and section 276 shall also apply for residence status documents, in particular residence permits and documents certifying a temporary stay of deportation, as well as vehicle papers, in particular vehicle registration and vehicle ownership certificates.
Section 277
Forgery of health certificates
Whosoever using the title of physician or of another registered medical practitioner without having the right to do so, or illegitimately using the name of such persons, issues a certificate relating to his own state of health or that of another, or falsifies a genuine certificate of that type, and makes use of it in order to deceive public authorities or insurance companies shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine.
Section 278
Issuing incorrect health certificates
Physicians and other registered medical practitioners who intentionally and knowingly issue an incorrect certificate relating to the state of health of a person for use with a public
authority or insurance company shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding two years or a fine.
Section 279
Using incorrect health certificates
Whosoever, in order to deceive a public authority or an insurance company about his own state of health or that of another, makes use of a certificate of the type indicated in section 277 and section 278, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine.
Section 280
(repealed)
Section 281
Misuse of identity documents
(1) Whosoever for the purpose of deception in legal commerce uses an identity document which was issued to another, or whosoever for the purpose of deception in legal commerce supplies to another an identity document that was not issued to that person, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine. The attempt shall be punishable.
(2) Certificates and other documents which are used as identity documents in commerce shall be equivalent to identity documents.
Section 282
Confiscatory expropriation order, extended confiscation and deprivation orders
(1) In cases under sections 267 to 269, section 275 and section 276, section 43a and section 73d shall apply if the offender acts as a member of a gang whose purpose is the continued commission of such offences. Section 73d shall also apply if the offender acts on a
commercial basis.
(2) Objects, to which an offence under section 267, section 268, section 271(2) and (3), section 273 or section 276, the latter also in conjunction with section 276a, or under section 269, relates may be subject to a deprivation order. In cases under section 275, also in conjunction with section 276a, the means of falsification indicated therein shall be subject to a deprivation order.