Administrative Costs Act
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Administrative Costs Act |
| Abbreviation: | VwKostG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Administrative law |
| Issued on: | June 23, 1970 ( BGBl. I p. 821 ) |
| Entry into force on: | June 27, 1970 |
| Expiry: | August 15, 2013 Art. 5 G of August 7, 2013 (BGBl. I p. 3154) |
| Weblink: | Text of the law |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The Administrative Expenses Act the federal government (in short: VwKostG ) was from 1970 to 2013 the central law , which for the collection of fees and expenses in connection with the public administrative activities of the federal authorities and by federal corporations , institutions and foundations under public law as well as the countries and municipalities, as far as they implement federal law, authorized.
history
Neither the German Reich nor the Federal Republic in their early days under the Basic Law knew of a general regulation of the law on costs for the Reich or federal level . Rather, beyond the Weimar Constitution , it was still a common view that the cost recovery of the public sector was the original task of the executive and a direct annex to its activities. Even if the legislature intervened in individual cases, this still corresponded more to the primacy of the law than a parliamentary reservation .
The Basic Law did not change this in principle either. However, for the first time the parliamentary reservation was also extended to the cost law. According to Article 80 of the Basic Law, the federal government or individual federal ministers can (also) issue statutory ordinances for their area of responsibility . To do this, however, they require express authorization by a formal law of the federal legislature, i.e. the Bundestag. This happened after 1949 for numerous areas, for example the (at that time still state-owned) postal system , railways or competition law .
With the increasing complexity of economic life and the associated activities of the federal government, this led to a confusing variety of very different, poorly coordinated authorization bases for the necessary fee regulations. This ultimately also led to decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court , which declared individual bases of authorization incompatible with Art. 80 GG and therefore void due to a lack of certainty.
In 1970, the legislature took this as an opportunity to put the complex system of federal fees on a clear and understandable basis by means of a uniform administrative costs law . The original draft law of the federal government provided for uniform application for the federal and state levels. After this was rejected by the Federal Council with reference to the lack of (annex) legislative competence of the federal government ( Art. 74 and 84 et seq. GG) in the case of original state administrative law, although its consent was required, a restriction brought about by the mediation committee that was called upon resulted in the Federal institutions and state and municipal authorities, insofar as they implement federal law, finally come to an agreement. The mediation committee finally confirmed the version passed by the Bundestag on April 22, 1970. The law then came into force on June 27, 1970, the day after it was published in the Federal Law Gazette, thus bundling the legal basis for the individual federal fee regulations for the first time.
Repeal and continued validity
On August 15, 2013, the Administrative Costs Act was replaced by the new Federal Fees Act (BGebG). Some laws continue to refer to the text of the law in its current version until it expires, e.g. B. Section 87 of the Renewable Energy Sources Act , which itself was only enacted one year after the Administrative Costs Act was repealed.
Pursuant to Section 23 (1) BGebG, the Administrative Costs Act continues to apply to public services that were applied for or started on August 15, 2013 but not yet completed. According to Paragraph 2, this also applies to individual provisions insofar as the fees or expenses to be levied are based on a statutory ordinance which was issued before August 15, 2013. Since the BGebG contains a mandate to the federal ministers and government to issue special fee regulations for their business areas, it can be assumed that paragraph 2 will increasingly become irrelevant in the future.
content
The Administrative Costs Act was designed as a mere authorization basis for the fee regulations on which the specific fee collection is based and therefore only regulated the uniform framework conditions that should apply to every fee collection, as well as the requirements for the fee regulations. Costs were chosen as the generic term for fees and expenses . In § 1, the scope of the collection of fees and expenses of the federal authorities and the federal corporations , institutions and foundations under public law, as well as those of the states and the municipalities, insofar as they implement federal law, was initially determined. The basic fee-causing offense was the performance of an official act . Certain separately regulated areas such as foreign affairs , court and judicial administration and financial administration were excluded . In the following section, the requirements for fee ordinances and the specific empowering laws were set out, for example the fee principles and limits on fee authorization. The third section arranged the necessary components and characteristics of the Gebührenerhebungs- and recovery procedure, as the concepts of the charges creditor charges debtor formation, fixing , maturity , and recovery , as well as suppression , remission , exemption and limitation . Unlike today's BGebG, the VwKostG only provided for an optional late payment surcharge . Cost decisions were declared by the VwKostG to be contestable independently in addition to the factual decision .
Relationship to state law
Since the federal legislature only has additional responsibility for the administrative procedure (and status) and this also includes the cost law, the VwKostG could only regulate the cost law of the states insofar as the federal government had an original legislative competence in the underlying issue. Public services that were based on original state law (especially police law , school law , judicial system ) were therefore not subject to the VwKostG, but rather to the individual cost laws of the states. These continue to exist under the BGebG, unless the state legislators decide otherwise.
Web links
Administrative Costs Act (VwKostG) (as last amended)
Individual evidence
- ↑ § 26 VwKostG, proclamation on June 26, 1970
- ↑ BVerfG, judgment v. October 11, 1966 - 2 BvR 179/64; 2 BvR 476/64; 2 BvR 477/64 = BVerfGE 20, 257
- ↑ BVerfG, decision of the Second Senate of February 24, 1970 - 2 BvL 12/69, 2 BvR 665/65, 26/66 and 467/68 = BVerfGE 28, 66
- ↑ 6th Bundestag, Ds. VI / 330 , website of the Bundestag, accessed on April 3, 2014
- ↑ 6th Bundestag, Ds. VI / 784 , Bundestag website, accessed on April 3, 2014
