Administrative Offenses Act

Basic data
Title:	Administrative Offenses Act
Short title:	[Administrative Offenses Act] (not official)
Abbreviation:	OWiG
Type:	Federal law
Scope:	Federal Republic of Germany
Legal matter:	Administrative offense law
References :	454-1
Original version from:	May 24, 1968 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 481 )
Entry into force on:	1st October 1968
Last revision from:	February 19, 1987 ( BGBl. I p. 602 )
Entry into force of the new version on:	April 1, 1987
Last change by:	Art. 185 VO of June 19, 2020 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1328, 1350 )
Effective date of the last change:	June 27, 2020 (Art. 361 of June 19, 2020)
Weblink:	Text of the OWiG
Please note the note on the applicable legal version.

The law on administrative offenses gives the administrative authorities of the federal government, the states and the municipalities as well as other corporations and institutions under public law (e.g. broadcasters ) the legal basis to impose warning and fines in order to enforce administrative acts.

content

The regulatory offense is an act threatened with a fine. In less serious cases, warnings can also be issued with a penalty fee or verbal warnings without a warning fee. It is therefore also referred to as “minor criminal law”. According to Section 47 (1) OWiG, it is at the discretion of the competent authority to refrain from prosecuting the regulatory offense entirely for reasons of opportunity .

The legal remedy of objection is given against notices of fines . The competent local court decides on the objection .

There are a number of individual legal regulations that make it possible to impose fines. The most well-known regulatory offenses include the traffic offenses , which are punished by so-called " Knöllchen ". In Intervene due to the transformation rule on a variety of measures of the Code of Criminal Procedure to resort.

Authorities authorized to do this can independently carry out fine proceedings. If legally enforceable fines are not paid, the authorities can enforce the fine by enforcement officers by way of administrative enforcement proceedings. Only the filing of an objection to the official fine or non-payment of the fine does the fine before a judicial review.

If the fine is not paid and no reasons for insolvency are presented, a court can, at the request of the authority, impose enforcement detention without the need for prior enforcement measures .

In Hesse, for example, fines can be set by the municipal board ( Magistrat ) for violations of the rules and prohibitions of municipal statutes (Section 5 of the Hessian Municipal Code in conjunction with Section 36 (1) No. 1 OWiG). Similar regulations can also be found in the municipal ordinances of the other federal states (e.g. § 7 Paragraph 2 GO NRW for North Rhine-Westphalia).

Outline of the law

• First part: general rules
  • First section: Scope of application §§ 1 to 7
  • Second section: Basics of punishment §§ 8 to 16
  • Third section: Fine Sections 17 to 18
  • Fourth section: Coincidence of several violations of the law §§ 19 to 21
  • Fifth section: confiscation §§ 22 to 29
  • Sixth section: Forfeiture, fines against legal persons and associations of persons §§ 29a to 30
  • Seventh section: Statute of limitations §§ 31 to 34
• Second part: administrative fine proceedings
  • First section: Competence to prosecute and prosecute administrative offenses §§ 35 to 45
  • Second section: General procedural regulations including the termination of proceedings, Sections 46 to 52
  • Third section: preliminary proceedings
    • I. General provisions Sections 53 to 55
    • II. Warning procedure §§ 56 to 58
    • III. Procedure of the administrative authority §§ 59 to 62
    • IV. Proceedings of the public prosecutor's office Sections 63 to 64
  • Fourth section: notice of fines §§ 65 to 66
  • Fifth section: objection and judicial process
    • I. Objection Sections 67 to 70
    • II. Main proceedings Sections 71 to 78
    • III. Appeal Sections 79 to 80a
  • Sixth section: Fine and criminal proceedings, Sections 81 to 83
  • Seventh section: Legal force and resumption of proceedings Sections 84 to 86
  • Eighth section: Procedure in the event of an order of side effects or the setting of a fine against a legal person or association of persons side effects, Sections 87 to 88
  • Ninth section: Enforcement of decisions on fines §§ 89 to 104
  • Section ten: costs
    • I. Procedure of the administrative authority §§ 105 to 108
    • II. Prosecutor's Office Procedure Section 108a
    • III. Procedure on the admissibility of the objection Section 109
    • IV. Expenses of the person concerned § 109a
  • Eleventh Section: Compensation for Persecution Section 110
  • Twelfth section: Electronic documents and electronic file management, §§ 110a to 110e
• Third part: Individual administrative offenses
  • First section: Violations of state orders §§ 111 to 115
  • Second section: Offenses against public order, sections 116 to 123
  • Third section: Abuse of state or state-protected signs §§ 124 to 129
  • Fourth section: Violation of the duty of supervision in companies and companies § 130
  • Fifth section: Common regulations § 131
• Fourth part: Final provisions §§ 132 to 135

literature

• Heribert Blum, Kathi Gassner , Sebastian Seith: Administrative Offenses Act. Hand commentary, Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2016, ISBN 978-3-8487-1771-2 .
• Joachim Bohnert , Jens Bülte: Administrative offense law. (Textbook) 5th edition. C. H. Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68942-0 .
• Wolfgang Ferner: Commentary on the Administrative Offenses Act. (Loose-leaf commentary) Luchterhand-Verlag, ISBN 3-472-70320-2 , ( online ).
• Wolfgang Ferner (Hrsg.): Handbook of road traffic law . 2nd Edition. Nomos Verlag, Baden-Baden 2006, ISBN 978-3-8329-1281-9 .
• Erich Göhler (greeting): Administrative Offenses Act. In: Beck's short comments (vol. 18). 17th edition. Verlag C. H. Beck, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-406-68948-2 .
• Benjamin Krenberger, Carsten Krumm : Ordnungswidrigkeitengesetz 5th edition of the comment justified by Joachim Bohnert, Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-406-71566-2 .
• Michael Lemke, Andreas Mosbacher: Administrative Offenses Act. Comment. 2nd Edition. C. F. Müller, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-8114-0862-3 .
• Wolfgang Mitsch : Law of the administrative offenses. (Textbook) Springer Verlag, 2nd edition 2005, ISBN 978-3-540-00026-6 .
• Wolfgang Mitsch (Ed.): Karlsruhe Commentary on the Law on Administrative Offenses. 5th edition. C. H. Beck, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-406-69510-0 .
• Kurt Rebmann , Werner Roth, Siegfried Herrmann (greeting): Law on administrative offenses. Comment. (Loose-leaf comment) 2 vols., 3rd edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1968–2009, as of October 1, 2009, ISBN 978-3-17-018020-8 .
• Günter Rosenkötter , Jürgen Louis: The law of administrative offenses. 7th edition. Boorberg Verlag, Stuttgart u. a. 2011, ISBN 978-3-415-04192-9 .

Web links

• Text of the Law on Administrative Offenses

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