Assembly Act (Germany)

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Basic data
Title: Gatherings
and Elevators Act
Short title: Assembly Act
Abbreviation: VersammlG (not official) ,
VersG (not official)
Type: Federal law
Scope: Federal Republic of Germany
except Bavaria , Lower Saxony , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt
Issued on the basis of: Art. 8  Abs. 2,  Art. 125a  Abs. 1  GG
Legal matter: Special administrative law
References : 2180-4
Original version from: July 24, 1953
( BGBl. I p. 684 )
Entry into force on: August 10, 1953
New announcement from: November 15, 1978
( Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1789 )
Last change by: Art. 150 VO of June 19, 2020
( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1328, 1346 )
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 Assembly Act is a German law that restricts the freedom of assembly in accordance with Article 8 (2) of the Basic Law .

General

The Federal Constitutional Court has repeatedly emphasized the special high quality of the freedom to assemble - embodied by demonstrations ( Brokdorf decision , Fuckparade, etc.). The federal states are responsible for the implementation of the Assembly Act.

Assembly laws of the countries

Until the federal reform of 2006, the right of assembly was the subject of the competing legislative competence of the federal government in accordance with the version of Art. 74, Paragraph 1, No. 3, old version, valid at the time . The federalism reform, which came into force on September 1, 2006, brought about an extensive reorganization of legislative competences, including a shift in the right of assembly to the competence of the states through the revision of Article 74, Paragraph 1, No. 3 of the Basic Law. At the same time, a new Article 125a, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law was enacted as a transitional provision, according to which federal law, which was enacted on the basis of federal competence that was later abolished, continues to apply in principle, but can be replaced by state law by the states . This gives the states the opportunity to replace the federal assembly law with their own assembly laws.

  • The Free State of Bavaria has with which entered into force on 1 October 2008 Bavarian Assembly Act made (BayVersG) as the first State of the new competency use. A constitutional complaint has been filed against this law by trade unions, political parties and other organizations that hold regular meetings. In a decision dated February 17, 2009, the Federal Constitutional Court partially granted an urgent application. In the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court it says: "According to the matter, Art. 9 (2) sentence 2 BayVersG authorizes an unprovoked image recording of the entire meeting." the assembly poses significant threats to public safety or order.
  • Berlin has so far only re-regulated a part of the law of assembly through state law. With the law on recordings and recordings of images and sound at meetings in the open air and lifts of April 23, 2013, § 19a VersammlG is replaced. Incidentally, the Assembly Act in Berlin continues to apply for the time being.
  • In the Free State of Saxony , the Federal Assembly Act was transferred to state law by means of a new notice dated January 20, 2010; This Saxon Assembly Act was declared by the Constitutional Court of the Free State of Saxony in a judgment of April 19, 2011 for formal reasons to be incompatible with the Saxon Constitution. On January 25, 2012, the Saxon State Parliament passed a new Saxon Assembly Act , which came into force on February 2, 2012.
  • In Saxony-Anhalt , the State Assembly Act (VersammlG LSA) of December 3, 2009 came into force on December 12, 2009.
  • Also, Schleswig-Holstein has exercised its legislative powers and enacted the Freedom of law (VersFG SH) on 18 June 2015 which came into force on July 1, 2015.

In the other federal states, state assembly laws have not currently been enacted (as of July 1, 2015), so that the federal assembly law still applies here.

Regulatory content

The content of the regulation far interferes with the fundamental right of freedom of assembly. In principle, the law prohibits several groups of people from holding meetings or participating:

It is also forbidden to carry weapons and uniforms or parts of uniforms to represent a political conviction, whereby youth organizations must be granted an exemption with regard to uniforms if the youth organization is primarily dedicated to youth care (e.g. boy scouts , youth fire brigade ). It is also forbidden to object to police measures such as B. to protect pepper spray or batons ( § 17a VersammlG: prohibition of protective weapons ). Protective weapons in the technical sense ( Section 17a, Paragraph 1, Section 27, Paragraph 2, No. 1 Alt. 1 VersammlG) are only to be understood as objects which, according to their intended purpose, their design features or their special properties, are intended from the outset to provide protection of the body to defend against attacks during armed conflicts. This primarily includes protective shields , armor and protective weapons from the police or military sector (helmets, protective or gas masks, etc.) or from the field of martial arts.

Open-air gatherings that are not prohibited due to these restrictions must be registered by the organizer 48 hours in advance. An exception to this applies according to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court for so-called "spontaneous demonstrations". Spontaneous meetings are meetings that are formed for current events without prior organization. In accordance with the constitutional interpretation of Section 14, Paragraph 1 of the General Assembly Act, there is no obligation to register for these assemblies because, on the one hand, there is no “leader” in the sense of S. v. § 14 Abs. 2 VersammlG gives, and on the other hand the basic right from Art. 8 Abs. 1 GG for spontaneous assemblies would otherwise be empty. Therefore, the dissolution of a meeting due to a lack of registration ( Section 15, Paragraph 2 of the General Assembly Act) in the case of spontaneous meetings is incorrect in judgment .

Differentiations

The Assembly Act differentiates between

  • Public gatherings in enclosed spaces and
  • Open-air public gatherings and elevators.

The non-public meetings are to be separated from this. The non-public gathering in the open air is unthinkable, as the exclusion of people in public space is hardly possible. For non-public gatherings in closed rooms, an analogous application of the Assembly Act (by the administrative courts ) or the application of the general law to avert danger is sometimes advocated. In contrast to other meetings, spontaneous meetings do not have to be registered. In principle, state interventions in the freedom of assembly are only possible on the basis of the Assembly Act and not through the general police laws (general hazard prevention law), as otherwise the protection of the assemblies would be ineffective. So-called. However, negative measures (compared to the dissolution of the meeting) are permissible. Since 2001, however, there have been increasing restrictions on the choice of demonstration means.

Dissolution of the meeting

The dissolution of a meeting or an elevator in the open air is determined according to § 15 VersammlG. There are high demands on the dissolution due to the breadth of the basic right. Considerable reasons can be found in the proportionality test in particular. Because of the high constitutional status of Article 8, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law, a dissolution is only permitted if the Assembly

  • is not registered (except for spontaneous demonstrations)
  • differs from the information in the registration
  • violates set requirements or
  • there is a ban on the meeting.

According to paragraph 2, a ban on the gathering has been possible since April 2005, in particular if the gathering takes place in a location that is of historically outstanding importance with regard to the victims of inhumane treatment under Nazi rule, and the dignity of the victims through such a gathering is affected. In addition to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the federal states are authorized to specify other locations by law.

Penalty and fine regulations

With the §§ 21–28 VersammlG penal provisions are enacted, which thus constitute ancillary criminal law. Sections 29 and 29a of the General Assembly Act contain administrative offenses .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Federal Ministry of the Interior: Right of Assembly
  2. ↑ Press release of the BVerfG from February 27, 2009
  3. ↑ BVerfG, decision of February 17, 2009, Az. 1 BvR 2492/08, full text .
  4. ↑ BVerfG, decision of February 17, 2009, Az. 1 BvR 2492/08, Rnr. 129 AE.
  5. ↑ BVerfG, decision of February 17, 2009, Az. 1 BvR 2492/08, Rnr. 134.
  6. ↑ GVBl, p. 103.
  7. ↑ Nds. GVBl, p. 465, ber, p. 532
  8. ↑ Lower Saxony Assembly Act (NVersG)
  9. ^ Initiative "Freedom of Assembly for Lower Saxony"
  10. ↑ SächsGVBl, p. 2
  11. ↑ Saxon Assembly Act (SächsVersG)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.revosax.sachsen.de  
  12. ↑ Constitutional Court of the Free State of Saxony, press release from April 19, 2011 ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.verfassungsgerichtshof.sachsen.de
  13. ↑ mdr report on the adoption of the Saxon Assembly Act of January 25, 2012 ( Memento of January 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Law on assemblies and elevators in the Free State of Saxony (Sächsisches Versammlungsgesetz - SächsVersG)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of January 25, 2012 (GVBl, p. 54), PDF doc. 51 KB.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.recht.sachsen.de  
  15. ↑ GVBl. LSA p. 558
  16. ↑ State Assembly Act Saxony-Anhalt (VersammlG LSA)
  17. ↑ GVOBl. Schl.-H, pp. 135-142
  18. ↑ Schleswig-Holstein: Freedom of Assembly Act (VersFG SH)
  19. ↑ Conviction for plastic wrap on the head. Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 5, 2016, accessed on August 26, 2020 .
  20. ↑ OLG Hamm, decision of November 20, 2012 - Az. 4 RVs 113/12, full text .
  21. ↑ BVerfGE 69, 315 , 350 f. - Brokdorf.

literature

  • Alfred Dietel, Kurt Gintzel, Michael Kniesel: Law of Assembly. Commentary on the Law on Congregations and Elevators. 15th edition. Carl Heymanns, Cologne / Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-452-26902-7 .
  • Sieghart Ott, Hartmut Wächtler: VersG. Assemblies and Elevators Act (Assemblies Act). 7th edition. Richard Boorberg, Stuttgart / Munich / Hanover / Berlin / Weimar / Dresden 2009, ISBN 978-3-415-03196-8 .
  • Stefan Zeitler: Outline of the right of assembly . Neuer Medienverlag, St. Georgen 2015, ISBN 978-3-933051-55-4 .
  • Volker Stein: Right of assembly . 2nd Edition. Verlag für Policewissenschaft, Frankfurt am Main 2019, ISBN 978-3-86676-581-8 .

Web links