On the Promulgation Platform, you can find the laws and statutory instruments as adopted by the German Bundestag or the bodies authorized to issue statutory instruments. Often, these are not new laws, but amendments to existing laws. It is also common that numerous provisions of various core laws are changed through comprehensive amending acts known as “article laws” (Artikelgesetz). This is not always understandable in and of itself. Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Justice (“Bundesministerium der Justiz”) and the Federal Office of Justice (“Bundesamt für Justiz”) jointly provide free access to virtually the entire body of current federal law on the website www.gesetze-im-internet.de. The laws and statutory instruments can be consulted there in their current version as amendments are incorporated first and the legal instruments are thus consolidated. You can also find English translations on the website: www.gesetze-im-internet.de/Teilliste_translations.html.

Please note: These consolidated legal texts and the translations provided are not the official versions. These can only be found on this Promulgation Platform.

Below, we will explain how to navigate the Promulgation Platform:

On the top left of the page, you will find the logo of the Federal Law Gazette (“Bundesgesetzblatt”). Clicking there will take you back to the welcome page.

On the right side of the header above the main navigation menu, you will see a quick link ribbon. In the English version of the main page, you will only find a link to the German welcome page. On the German version of every webpage, the quick link ribbon gives you access to the contacts site (“Kontakt”) as well as the content provided in plain language (“Leichte Sprache”), sign language (“Gebärdensprache”) and the link to this page.

Below this, you will find the main navigation menu.

The tab “Bundesgesetzblatt” contains Parts I and II of the Federal Law Gazette (“Bundesgesetzblatt Teil I, Teil II”), directories (“Fundstellennachweise”), information on publications from before 2023 (“Verkündungen vor 2023”) and the possibility to search the promulgated instruments (“Recherche”).

The tab “Informationen” contains a description of the site’s services (“Unsere Leistungen”), a list of frequently asked questions (“FAQ”) and a list of abbreviations (“Abkürzungsverzeichnis”). Under the “Informationen” tab, you will also find explanations on how to search (“So suchen Sie”) and a list of the legal areas for which publications are available (“Verzeichnis der Sachgebiete”), as well as the possibility of signature verification (“Signaturprüfung”). Lastly, it contains links to thematically related sites (“Weiterführende Seiten”).

Under the “Service” tab, you can sign up for the newsletter, which will keep you informed of the latest developments and publications. In addition, this tab provides contacts for those responsible for the platform (“Kontakt”).

On the welcome page, a short text below the main tabs provides information on the Promulgation Platform.

Further down on the welcome page, you will find the latest promulgations and announcements, which you can either download or view in full by clicking on the title.

Below this, you will find the search tool. Here, you can search for all promulgations and announcements published from 2023 onwards.

Below that on almost every page an "about section" is provided (“Über die Seite”). Here, you will find quick links to explanations on how to search (“So suchen Sie”), frequently asked questions (“FAQ”) and related sites (“Weiterführende Seiten”).

In the footer, you will find links to the terms of use (“Nutzungshinweise”), the FAQs and the newsletter. You will also find the logos of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Office of Justice. Clicking on these logos will take you to the respective website.

A click on the arrow on the top right, labelled “Zum Seitenanfang”, will take you back to the top of the page.

The footer line further down contains links to the content overview (“Inhaltsverzeichnis”), the privacy statement (“Datenschutz”), the legal notice and the accessibility declaration (“Barrierefreiheit”). There, you can also report accessibility barriers (“Barriere melden”).

We hope that this will help you find your way around the platform.