Association Act (Germany)

Basic data
Title:	Law regulating ; public association law
Short title:	Association Act
Abbreviation:	VereinsG
Type:	Federal law
Scope:	Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter:	Special administrative law
References :	2180-1
Issued on:	August 5, 1964 ; ( BGBl. I p. 593 )
Entry into force on:	September 12, 1964
Last change by:	Art. 149 Regulation of June 19, 2020 ; ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1328, 1345 )
Effective date of the ; last change:	June 27, 2020 ; (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020)
Weblink:	Text of the law
	Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The Association Act (in short: VereinsG ) was revised in 1964. The Association Act of 1908 was previously in force .

It contains the public law regulation of the otherwise private law governed association law . In principle, the Association Act restricts the freedom of association from Article 9 (2) of the Basic Law .

Association within the meaning of the Association Act

The area of application of the Law on Associations ( Section 2 ) is partly linked to the concept of the Association of Civil Law ( Section 21 et seq. BGB ). In particular, are excluded from the Association Act

political parties according to Art. 21 GG
Parliamentary groups of the Bundestag and the parliaments of the federal states

Associations within the meaning of the law are, moreover, all associations of legal or natural persons who have come together voluntarily for a common purpose.

Until the first law amending the Association Act of December 4, 2001, religious communities were also excluded from the scope of the Association Act (so-called religious privilege ). The Bundestag decided on this change as part of the anti-terror package on November 9, 2001, in order to open up the possibility of a ban on associations after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 to combat radical, primarily Islamist, communities. However, in such a case it should be noted that religious freedom of association as part of religious freedom (cf. the Baha'i resolution ) can only be restricted under very strict conditions.

Regulatory content

The regulatory content is primarily limited to the prohibition of associations (§ § 2 ff. VereinsG). Only the federal minister of the interior or the state interior ministers (“the highest competent state authorities for associations and sub-associations”) are authorized to ban associations. In the case of parties that are excluded from the law, the ban may only be pronounced by the Federal Constitutional Court .

The prohibition can only take place if the purposes of the association oppose the criminal laws or negate the constitutional order , in particular the ideas of international understanding ( Art. 9 (2) GG, § 3 (1) VereinsG).

The idea of international understanding is aimed at peaceful coexistence between peoples and demands a non-violent overcoming of conflicts of interest. According to the highest court rulings (BVerwG, judgment of December 3, 2004, DVBl. 05,590), an association violates this idea if it seriously “introduces violence into the relationship between peoples” and “the resulting impairment of peaceful coexistence between peoples is borne by a corresponding will of the association ".

Association ban

With the association ban

the association's assets,
to a limited extent the claims of third parties,
Things (i.e. property) of third parties, insofar as these served to promote enemy endeavors,

confiscated and confiscated (§ § 10 ff. VereinsG).

The prohibition is entered in the register of associations ("in a public register"). The consequences are also noted ( Section 7 (2) of the Association Act)

Further prohibitions

The meaning of the prohibition would be emptied if a successor organization were founded after the prohibition of an association. Accordingly, the substitute organizations are prohibited by law ( § 8 VereinsG).

In addition, there is a ban on the (further) use of labels belonging to the prohibited association. Exceptions exist for civic education. Badges, uniforms, slogans and greetings are considered to be marks within the meaning of the Association Act. The same applies to any substitute organizations ( Section 9 VereinsG).

Special regulations

For associations of foreigners , foreign associations, unions and employers' associations and certain entities of private law peculiarities (§ apply § 14 et seq. VereinsG).

Violations

Violations of association bans are punishable according to § 20 VereinsG. This means that the Association Act is part of ancillary criminal law . In more recent history, violations of association bans by neo-Nazi groups and supporters of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK or the substitute organization "KADEK" have been pending.

Violations of the statutory ordinance issued on the basis of Section 19 of the Association Act are administrative offenses and can be punished with fines of up to DM 2,000 (EUR 1,000).

literature

Wolf-Rüdiger Schenke , Kurt Graulich , Josef Ruthig : Federal Security Law - BPolG, BKAG, ATDG, BVerfSchG, BNDG, VereinsG . 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-406-71602-7 , pp. 1095-1252 .
Florian Albrecht: Association law prohibition procedures in the burning mirror of informational self-determination . JurPC web doc. 47/2012, paras. 1–78 (online) .
Georg Erbs, Max Kohlhaas (greeting): Criminal law subsidiary laws. Comment . 197th edition, CH Beck, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-406-37751-8 (loose-leaf collection, as of February 2014).
Christian Baudewin: The association ban . In: NVwZ , No. 16/2013, August 15, 2013.
Julia Gerlach: The practice of prohibiting associations in militant democracy. To prohibit or not to prohibit? (= Extremism and democracy . Vol. 22). Nomos, Baden-Baden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8329-7456-5 .

Web links

Structure and text of the law on associations
Christian Spiegelberg: What use are club bans to fight right-wing extremism? , on: mut-gegen-rechte-gewalt.de, from September 23, 2010.

Individual evidence

↑ Guiding principle of the Federal Administrative Court in the judgment of December 3, 2004 . lexetius.com. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
↑ There are quite critical voices about the prevailing opinion about the admissibility of such procedures according to § 20 VereinsG. Compare only the article by Antonia von der Behrens / Ole-Steffen Lucke: On the interpretation of § 20 Paragraph 1 No. 5 of the Association Act: The continued existence of a criminal liability gap HRRS 04/2011, 120 [1]

[1] Guiding principle of the Federal Administrative Court in the judgment of December 3, 2004 . lexetius.com. Retrieved November 17, 2019.

[2] There are quite critical voices about the prevailing opinion about the admissibility of such procedures according to § 20 VereinsG. Compare only the article by Antonia von der Behrens / Ole-Steffen Lucke: On the interpretation of § 20 Paragraph 1 No. 5 of the Association Act: The continued existence of a criminal liability gap HRRS 04/2011, 120 [1]