Federal waterway
The German federal waterways are following the legal definition of water routes law in § 1 of the German Federal Waterways Act (WaStrG) the sea routes in the form of coastal waters and the general traffic serving inland waterways of the Federal (see list German inland waterways of the Federal ) . All inland waterways that serve general traffic are finally listed in Appendix 1 of the BWaStrG ( legal fiction ). In addition, the so-called other federal inland waterways are still owned by the federal government for constitutional and historical reasons, but do not serve general traffic. They are also counted among the federal waterways.
The federal waterways are to be separated from the inland waterways of the federal states, which can also fulfill a general, but mostly subordinate transport function.
history
Originally, at the time of the German Reich, water management and legislation in water law were the sole responsibility and competence of the states. Art. 97 of the Weimar Constitution in 1919 provided that the German Reich should take over "the waterways serving general traffic into its property and administration". The Reich and the Länder agreed in the State Treaty on the transition of the waterways from the Länder to the Reich , passed as a law by the Reichstag through the Reich Law of July 29, 1921 ( RGBl. P. 961), which waterways these should be; the waterways thus declared to be Reich waterways passed from the property of the respective countries to the property of the Reich with effect from April 1, 1921 . In the German Reich after 1919, too, the focus of competencies on water lay with the federal states. The newly established ownership of the Reich on the Reich waterways was therefore exclusively function-related to their traffic use, in addition, the states reserved extensive rights of use in the State Treaty, which were independent of the traffic function.
According to Article 89, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law , when the Basic Law came into force, the Federal Republic of Germany became the owner of the previous Reich waterways, which, in accordance with Article 89, Paragraph 2 of the Basic Law , are administered directly by the Federation as federal waterways, together with the newly built, in particular, federal waterways . It was not until 1968 that the law of the federal waterways was comprehensively codified in the WaStrG . In balancing the different interests of the federal government and the federal states, the WaStrG adopted the principle that the federal government is the private owner of the federal waterways to a greater extent than the state treaty of 1921, but that it essentially uses this property for transport purposes. In the legislative procedure through the Federal Council, the federal states enforced far-reaching rights of use on the sea waterways and the estuaries of the inland waterways of the federal government, provided that this does not impair the traffic function of the sea waterways.
After the completion of the national unity of Germany on October 3, 1990, in addition to the application of Article 89 GG within the framework of the ordinance of the Federal Ministry of Transport of November 13, 1990 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 2524 ), new federal waterways were added in the area of the former GDR .
Federal waterways according to the Federal Waterways Act (WaStrG)
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Federal Waterways Act |
| Abbreviation: | WaStrG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Special administrative law |
| References : | 940-9 |
| Original version from: | April 2, 1968 ( Federal Law Gazette II p. 173 ) |
| Entry into force on: | April 10, 1968 |
| New announcement from: | May 23, 2007 ( BGBl. I p. 962 , ber. 2008 I p. 1980 ) |
| Last change by: |
Art. 335 VO from 19 June 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1328, 1367 ) |
| Effective date of the last change: |
June 27, 2020 (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
§ 1 WaStrG inland waterways , sea waterways
(1) Federal waterways under this Act are
- the federal inland waterways serving general traffic; the waterways listed in Appendix 1 are deemed to be such ; this also includes all parts of the water that
- a) are to be regarded as a natural unit with the federal waterway in their appearance,
- b) are connected to the federal waterway through a water inflow or outflow,
- c) permit shipping on the federal waterway and
- d) are owned by the federal government.
- the sea waterways.
(2) Sea waterways are the areas between the coastline at medium high tide or the seaward boundary of the inland waterways and the seaward boundary of the territorial sea . The sea waterways do not include the port entrances, which are bordered on one or both sides by dams or piers , the outer depths, the coastal protection , drainage, land reclamation structures , bathing facilities and the dry beach.
(3) Insofar as the fulfillment of the administrative tasks of the federal government is not impaired, the respective state can use the property of the federal government on the sea waterways and on the adjacent estuaries of the inland waterways free of charge,
- if the use serves public interests, in particular for land reclamation, soil or water extraction, construction of port facilities, for measures for coastal protection and for water drainage as well as for the implementation of bathing operations,
- to exercise hunting rights, mussel fishing, shill extraction, agriculture as well as the rights to use mineral resources resulting from ownership.
The land becomes the owner of the land and port areas and structures built in accordance with number 1. It can transfer the rights of use according to numbers 1 and 2 to a third party in individual cases. Third party rights remain unaffected.
(4) The federal waterways also include
- the federally owned shipping facilities, especially locks , ship lifts , weirs , protective, mooring and construction harbors as well as federally owned dams , storage basins and other feed and discharge systems,
- the federally owned waterfront properties, building yards and workshops for their maintenance.
(5) The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development is authorized, subject to Section 2, to amend Annex 1 by ordinance with the consent of the Bundesrat so that the federal waterways listed there are wholly or partially combined or separated, and names for them are determined or changed.
Other federal inland waterways
A number of waterways that are federal waterways according to Article 89 paragraph 1 GG, but do not serve general traffic and are therefore not listed in Annex 1 of the Federal Waterways Act (WaStrG), are referred to as "other federal inland waterways". These are essentially former Reich waterways, which the Reich took over into its ownership on the basis of the 1921 State Treaty and which later became the property of the federal government, but which no longer serve general traffic. For them, the true paths legal WaStrG not because the corresponding concurrent legislative powers of the Federation applies only to inland waterways serving the general traffic. However, also on these waterways u. a. the federal inland waterway regulations as traffic law . At the same time, it follows that the federal government itself manages the other inland waterways of the federal government as transport routes, but in the absence of its own legislative competence is limited to law-free administration , i.e. to administrative activities that are not subject to the proviso of the law .
Responsibilities
The administration of the federal waterways is the responsibility of the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration (WSV), which is part of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure .
literature
- Albrecht Friesecke: Federal Waterways Act. Comment . 6th revised edition. Carl Heymanns, Cologne 2009, ISBN 978-3-452-26906-5 .
- Sönke Petersen: German coastal law. A systematic representation . Nomos, Baden-Baden 1989, ISBN 3-7890-1710-8 .
Web links
- Map of federal waterways, federal waterways and shipping administration
- Text of the Federal Waterways Act, with links to PDF and ePUB versions
Individual evidence
- ^ Structure of federal waterways, WSV
- ↑ Article 97 of the Constitution of the German Empire
- ↑ State treaty on the transition of the waterways from the states to the Reich of July 29, 1921
- ↑ Directory A of the Chronicle (excerpt from the 1921 State Treaty) ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration
- ↑ S. on the legislative history of the BVerwG, judgment of 6 July 1990 - 4 A 1/87 -, BVerwGE 85, p. 223, 230ff.
- ↑ Directory C of the Chronicle ( Memento of the original of July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration
- ↑ Directory E of the Chronicle ( Memento of the original of July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration
- ↑ Directory F of the Chronicle ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration
