The collection of documents

Keeping the documents and records of political parties and associations on file is a major responsibility of the Federal Returning Officer, in addition to preparing and conducting elections to the Bundestag and the European Parliament.

The collection of documents maintained by the Office of the Federal Returning Officer is available for public inspection and serves to ensure general access to information on political parties in Germany. The purpose is to give citizens and the media the opportunity to form their own understanding of the objectives, self-identity and internal structures of the individual parties on the basis of the statutes and party programmes contained in the collection.

Legal basis

Section 6 (3) of the Political Parties Act (Parteiengesetz)

What documents must be submitted to the Federal Returning Officer?

The party's executive committee must provide the following documents and information to the Federal Returning Officer:

the statutes
the party programme
the names and roles of the members of the executive committee of the party and of the party's Land branches, and
the dissolution of the party or a Land branch.

Any changes must be reported by 31 December of the relevant calendar year.

To prove the legitimacy of the party's foundation, the minutes of the foundation meeting must also be submitted. The minutes must document the decisions to establish the party, the resolutions to adopt the statutes and the party programme, and the democratic and secret election of the executive committee. The minutes should bear the handwritten signatures of the party's chairperson or of his or her deputy and of two other executive committee members. In addition, the street address, e-mail address and telephone and fax numbers of the association must be communicated to the Federal Returning Officer; PO box addresses are not permitted.

Legal basis

Section 6 (3) of the Political Parties Act (Parteiengesetz)

Are all political associations obliged to notify the Federal Returning Officer?

How should the documents be submitted to the Federal Returning Officer?

Does the inclusion of a party's records in the collection of documents automatically mean that the party is also recognised as a political party?

As a party is founded through its act of establishment, the inclusion of its records in the collection of documents maintained by the Federal Returning Officer neither has any legal effect nor establishes any rights for the party. Furthermore, a party is not automatically recognised as a political party when its records are included in the collection of documents. There is no recognition or registration procedure whereby the party status is established in a generally binding form.

The Political Parties Act does not stipulate a formal and generally binding procedure for the recognition of party status by a specially authorised agency. Provisions for the recognition of party status by the Federal Electoral Committee are laid down in the Federal Elections Act but pertain solely to Bundestag elections and are limited specifically to the cases identified in section 18 (2) of the Act. In all other instances, the competent authorities and courts decide on the recognition of party status in each individual case. This does not, however, have any binding effect for other authorities, for example, the decision by the relevant fiscal authority regarding the tax deductibility of membership fees and donations.