Germany and Administrative Procedure: No Love Lost
Germany and Administrative Procedure: No Love Lost

Author(s): Philipp Reimer
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Administrative Law
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: administrative procedure; Germany
Summary/Abstract: German public law tends to choose substance over procedure, according the latter only an “ancillary function”. To justify this thesis, a short history of the relevant legislation and the current state of law are presented. Administrative procedure was long of limited interest, its regulation is fragmentary, and procedural errors are deemed irrelevant in many cases. While the “intrinsic value” of procedure has been discussed in academia over the last decades, the law has changed almost only to the extent that European Union directives forced it to (notably on environmental matters). In this respect, procedural rules have become rather more important, sometimes to the detriment of efficiency. Overall, however, the standard administrative procedure of the adjudicational type still dominates the picture in German administrative law, with everything else being considered an exception to the rule.

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