Universelles Leben e.V. v. Germany

Universelles Leben, the German branch of Universal Life, filed a request in German court for an interim injunction prohibiting the German Government from including a reference to the applicant association in a publication on "So-called youth sects and psycho-groups in the Federal Republic of Germany"^[1] until a final court's decision on prohibiting the reference. The interim injunction was granted by the Cologne Administrative Court.

After a government appeal of the injunction, the North Rhine-Westphalia Administrative Court of Appeal dismissed UL's request. It found that the documents produced by UL, in particular on the replacement of medical treatment by religious belief, showed a degree of danger for the general public justifying a reference to the applicant association in the envisaged publication including a warning about its activities.^[2]