Website information and privacy notice

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The Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, together with the Federal Office of Justice, provides free online access to almost all current German federal legislation through Gesetze im Internet. These consolidated texts are updated continuously but are not the authoritative versions. The authoritative texts are published in the Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt), which has been issued exclusively electronically on recht.bund.de since 1 January 2023. Earlier authoritative editions were published in print.

This website processes the source material into a simplified XML format, removing unnecessary markup and formatting. For the XML pages, an XSLT stylesheet instructs compatible browsers how to display the content as HTML.

The processed legal texts support research into the automated identification and linking of statutory provisions and references between them.

Examples:

A complete list of available legislation is also available.

The controller responsible for processing personal data in connection with this website is gekko, Gesellschaft für Kommunikation und Kooperation mbH, Pappelallee 78/79, 10437 Berlin, Germany. For privacy enquiries or to exercise your rights, contact [email protected]. Further company information is available in our imprint.

The server hosting this website is located in Germany. The website also uses external services, as described below. The server’s location does not mean that all processing by those services takes place exclusively in Germany.

When you access this website, technical information is recorded in server access logs. This includes:

We process these logs to maintain the security and reliable operation of the website and to identify and investigate technical faults, attacks and misuse. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): our legitimate interest in operating a secure and reliable service.

Our server access logs are retained for a maximum of seven days and then deleted. Where specific records are required to investigate a security incident or establish, exercise or defend legal claims, the relevant records may be retained for as long as necessary for that purpose. This retention period applies to our own server access logs; it does not establish the retention periods of external service providers.

The website uses Cloudflare to deliver content and provide network security. Requests pass through Cloudflare’s infrastructure, where personal data such as IP addresses and technical request information are processed. According to Cloudflare, processing may take place in the European Economic Area, the United States and other countries. Further information is available in Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

The website currently loads the Noto Serif typeface from Google Fonts. When your browser requests the external stylesheet or font files, it connects to Google’s servers and transmits your IP address and technical request information. This external loading is configured in the website’s stylesheet. Further information is available in Google’s privacy policy. The use of Google Fonts does not, by itself, establish compliance with the GDPR.

Subject to the applicable legal conditions, you have rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing and data portability. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests on grounds relating to your particular situation. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing. You may also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, including the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

We may update this notice to reflect changes to the website, its services or applicable requirements. The date above identifies the latest revision.