Local AI for professional secrecy holders (§203 StGB)

Set up controlled AI for a firm, practice or advisory business? WZ-IT plans application, data flows, access and operations around the intended use and agreed technical scope. Explore the Section 203 Managed Cloud for AI software

For professional secrecy holders, AI touches not only data protection but criminally protected secrecy under Section 203 of the German Criminal Code. Cloud services are not prohibited across the board, and local systems are not automatically permitted. Disclosure, necessity, participants, contracts and technical safeguards are decisive. This is an assessment framework, not legal advice. As of August 2026.

Table of contents

• What makes professional secrecy holders different
• What section 203 means for external IT providers
• Why cloud AI needs particular scrutiny
• What local AI improves and what it does not
• The professions at a glance
• What a clean setup looks like
• Operating models by protection need
• How WZ-IT supports the technical implementation
• Sources

What makes professional secrecy holders different

Certain professions are subject under §203 StGB (the German Criminal Code) to a criminally sanctioned duty of secrecy that goes beyond general data protection obligations. These include, among others, lawyers, doctors and dentists, pharmacists, psychotherapists, tax advisors, auditors and notaries - as well as their professional assistants.

Unauthorised disclosure can be a criminal offence. Data protection and professional secrecy remain separate reviews: a data processing agreement alone does not settle section 203, and a confidentiality obligation does not create a GDPR legal basis.

What section 203 means for external IT providers

Section 203(3) expressly permits disclosure to other persons contributing to the professional activity where necessary for their work. Subsection (4) also covers those contributing persons and requires, among other things, appropriate confidentiality commitments.

That does not make every external AI service acceptable. Assess necessity, the exact secrets exposed, provider staff and subprocessors, administration and support locations, technical access and export capabilities, plus GDPR and profession-specific requirements.

Why cloud AI needs particular scrutiny

A cloud service may receive prompts, answers, documents and metadata, and may involve subprocessors, international transfers, telemetry or support access. An EU region or a “no training” statement does not answer all of those questions. Cloud AI can suit anonymised, non-secret or explicitly approved tasks. Processing client, patient or tax secrets requires an assessment of the exact service and configuration.

What local AI improves and what it does not

Local AI can reduce the number of external recipients. Inference, embeddings and retrieval can stay inside a controlled boundary, supporting minimisation and potentially avoiding international transfers.

The model location is only one layer. Updates, telemetry, observability, backups, remote administration and connected OCR, speech or web services can still communicate externally. Knowledge permissions must also be enforced before retrieval. A prompt instruction is not access control; see RAG with real permissions.

The professions at a glance

The requirements are similar, the details differ by profession - from professional codes to sector-specific rules. For the individual professions we have prepared the AI use concretely:

• Local AI in law firms
• Local AI in tax firms
• Local AI in medical practices
• Local AI for notaries
• Local AI in psychotherapy

Additional professional, chamber and sector rules vary by profession and use. They need to be assessed separately; architecture alone does not replace that work.

What a clean setup looks like

A dependable setup includes:

• Data flow and data classes for prompts, answers, documents, embeddings, logs and backups.
• Controlled model operation, local or dedicated, with only approved recipients.
• SSO and rights management using existing users, roles and groups.
• Technically enforced permissions for knowledge systems - not left to the model via a prompt.
• Minimal logging with defined retention and separate evaluation rights.
• Secured operations covering secrets, segmentation, patching, encrypted backups and tested restores.
• Governed support access with named contributing persons and traceable approvals.
• Matching documentation and contracts, including DPIA where required.

Operating models by protection need

How WZ-IT supports the technical implementation

WZ-IT designs AI for professional secrecy holders from the trust boundary outward. The result may be an on-site AI Cube, a dedicated managed AI stack, a Section 203 Managed Cloud or integration with existing Proxmox, identity and network infrastructure.

We document data flows and administrative roles, implement SSO and permissions, restrict outbound traffic and establish monitoring, backup and recovery. The technical and contractual scope is aligned with the real processing arrangement and participating services. Approval of the target model for a particular purpose remains part of the organisation's professional, data-protection and, where required, legal assessment.

Sources

• German Federal Ministry of Justice: section 203 StGB
• European Commission: data-protection obligations and DPIAs
• European Commission: international data-transfer rules
• German Data Protection Conference: guidance on AI and data protection