If you want to address passers-by on public land to conduct a commercial survey or commercial market research, you need a special use permit.
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Only market research institutes are permitted to “recruit” participants in a consumer survey. The actual survey must then be carried out in private premises. Per institute, permission can be granted for a maximum of one year and for a maximum of two interviewers.
As a rule, no special use permit is required if passers-by are questioned as part of the so-called “communicative common use”. This includes, for example:
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if leaflets, magazines or brochures are distributed free of charge and non-commercially,
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if no structures or information stands are used for this (e.g. a collection of signatures with a clipboard),
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and when the questions are primarily directed towards general ideological, religious, historical or political expressions of opinion.
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