Global Indicators of Regulatory Governance

The coalition agreement as a political "plan" is negotiated and published by the political parties who constitute a new government after general elections. It covers about 80 to 90 per cent of the legislative initiates of the government, its implementation is monitored and the paper is public and subject to public discussion. The ministries elaborate on these plans on their websites, public announcements, events and parliamentary debates. For EU law the Federal Government assesses each proposal of the Commission Working Program on its impacts.

Internet, social media, print, press releases, public debates in parliament and at events.

Ministries seek input from affected stakeholders.

http://www.bundesregierung.de/Webs/Breg/DE/Service/GesetzesvorhabenBundesregierung/_node.html

http://www.bmub.bund.de/themen/strategien-bilanzen-gesetze/gesetze-verordnungen/gesetzes-und-verordnungsentwuerfe/

By mail or email or any other communication tool, also in public meetings etc.

Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries, Arts. 47 to 50. Furthermore, according to the Federal Constitutional Court, this is an obligation of the government, which follows directly from the fundamental rights laid down in the German constitution. These fundamental rights are directly legally binding for the whole administration, including the Federal ministries and their legislative activities. Please find an explanation which describes the task of the Federal press office, but is relevant for all government action with no except: https://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/EN/StatischeSeiten/breg/federal-press-office-constitutional-basis.html?nn=393272

Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries.

Comments are sought from agencies as well as interest groups which are likely to be affected by the regulatory issue.

http://www.bundesregierung.de/Webs/Breg/DE/Service/GesetzesvorhabenBundesregierung/_node.html ; www.bmwi.de

The Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries explicitly provide that the law-making process at the federal level involves the central and umbrella associations and the expert community. Timing, scope and selection are left to the discretion of the lead Federal Ministry, unless otherwise stipulated.

Unless special rules stipulate otherwise, consultations take place at the discretion of the lead ministry (e.g. timing, scope, choice of stakeholders).

As a general rule the comments are made available online. However, it will depend on the lead ministry. Comments of institutions and organizations are made public on the website of the ministry, see for example: http://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Gesetzgebungsverfahren/DE/NetzDG.html See also a private website which collects statements and drafts from the NGO's point of view: https://stellungnah.me/ Whether comments are available instantly or during the process depends on the circumstances of the individual bill.

Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries, Arts. 47 to 50

This is at least done in the explanatory memorandum, which is a publicly available part of the bill.

This decision is made by the lead ministry. However, there is public deliberation (e.g. in public hearings, plenary debate, committee work, etc.) when the bill of the government is sent to the parliament. In this phase, the behavior of the government - e.g. if it is not responding appropriately – is criticized by the political parties in the parliament.

www.bmwi.de

The minimum requirement is to summarize and comment on the results of the consultation in the explanatory memorandum within the legal draft of the bill. Usually Ministries explain themselves and their considerations also publicly on their websites, in public meetings etc.

Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries Art. 51 and according to the Federal Constitutional Court, this is an obligation of the government, which follows directly from the fundamental rights laid down in the German constitution; these fundamental rights are directly legally binding for the whole administration, including the Federal Ministries and their legislative activities.

There needs to be an Impact Assessment for any single initiative. However, the intensity of the Impact Assessment follows the rule of proportionality. In addition, there are thresholds for quantitative evaluation of the data given in the Impact Assessment.

There is a wide range of supporting documents (binding guidelines, informative guidelines) and instruments (drafting tool, calculation tool for compliance costs, databases, etc.) available. In addition, the Academy of the Federal Public Services offers a wide range of trainings regarding legislation. Besides that, the Federal Chancellery offers support of an behavioral insights team for drafting. (https://www.normenkontrollrat.bund.de/Webs/NKR/EN/Overview_of_Tasks/Methodology/_node.html) (https://www.destatis.de/EN/FactsFigures/Indicators/BureaucracyCosts/BureaucracyCosts.html)

Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries Art. 44. The government issues about 50 sectoral reports per year on the regulatory fitness of the legal framework for specific goals and/or sectors of regulation to the parliament and the public. (http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/nkrg/)

The Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries explicitly provide that the law-making process at the federal level involve the central and umbrella associations and the expert community. Timing, scope and selection are left to the discretion of the lead he Joint Rules of Procedure of the Federal Ministries explicitly provide that the law-making process at the federal level involve the central and umbrella associations and the expert community. Timing, scope and selection are left to the discretion of the lead Federal Ministry, unless otherwise stipulated.

The minimum requirement is to summarize and comment on the Impact Assessment in the explanatory memorandum. Usually Ministries explain themselves and their considerations also publicly on their websites, in public meetings etc.

The obligation is part of the Joint Rules of procedures of the Federal Ministries; a section in the cover sheet is reserved for a summary on the consideration of alternatives.

www.gesetze-im-internet.de (covering German Federal law)

www.juris.de; there are further websites managed by the private sector that provide federal laws currently in force

The official German gazette is the "Bundesgesetzblatt"

https://www.bgbl.de/

Specialized databases e.g. for lawyers

Ex-post assessments of the actual burden are routinely carried out by the Federal Statistical Office and recorded in a (publicly accessible) database. Evaluation is mandatory for legislation above the materiality threshold of 1mil Euro per anum domestically.

- 1mil Euro p.a. materiality threshold for evaluation of effectiveness

- level of achievement of objectives

- political significance or profound uncertainty

- potential unintended side effects.

Besides the systematic evaluation, and according to the decision of March 18, 2012 (with involvement of the Regulatory Control Council), the Federal government provides about 70 monitoring and evaluation reports to the Bundestag per year. Many of these reports include initiatives for amendments of the body of law.
More evaluations and reviews are provided by the Bundesrechnungshof which carries out many audit missions (regularity, compliance and performance) and sets out the audit findings in usually more than 1400 management letters a year. Various aspects of ex post evaluation can be part of performance audits. Performance audits under the criteria of economy, efficiency and effectiveness are carried out to ensure that good value-for-money is obtained. Effectiveness auditing has become increasingly important to determine whether the desired objective has been achieved and whether adequate program evaluation has been carried out. This applies particularly to large-scale government programs or government projects.
Each year, the Federal Performance Commissioner is involved in about 400 legislative and regulatory projects. Based on this knowledge it issues opinions for legislative or regulatory projects in the form of lessons learnt, assessments and findings generated by the Bundesrechnungshof’s audits. This may also concern ex post evaluation (https://www.bundesrechnungshof.de/en/veroeffentlichungen/gutachten-berichte-bwv/gutachten-bwv-schriftenreihe/copy_of_gutachten-berichte-des-bundesbeauftragten).

In addition to these independent evaluations the Federal government provides about 70 evaluation and monitoring reports to the German Bundestag according to legal or parliamentary requirements.
Furthermore, the Federal Government has adopted a procedure for systematic evaluation of major legal drafts. The procedure is in power as of March 1, 2013. Available statistics focus on the question of whether an obligation for evaluation is indicated, when the draft passes cabinet (Council of ministers). Three to five years after getting into force (which could be up to one year after cabinet adoption due to parliamentary procedures) the evaluation is due to be done.
Finally, the Federal Constitutional Court evaluates laws from a constitutional point of view. Due to the understanding of the fundamental rights laid down in the German constitution this includes a due diligence, whether regulations are functional (""geeignet"") and appropriate (""angemessen"") to reach a given goal.

National Regulatory Control Council Establishment Act 2006, Arts. 2 and 8, in connection with the impact assessment guidance which has quasi-legal character as it is derived from the primary law and has been agreed by all ministries.

Prior to adoption of legislative initiatives everybody may appeal to any of the bodies involved (Federal Government, Bundesrat, Parliament, Federal President), both directly or via media or political parties. After adoption judicial review (regarding the question of the constitutional requirements are met) is open to anybody affected, in specific areas as well for stakeholders and other NGO's.

The government issues about 50 sectoral reports per year on the regulatory fitness of the legal framework for specific goals and/or sectors of regulation to the parliament and the public.