The German federal government is pushing to accelerate proceedings at administrative courts and improve the enforcement of their rulings. On Wednesday, the cabinet approved a bill to modernise the Administrative Court Code (Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung), marking the first major update to the legislation since 2001.
Administrative courts (Verwaltungsgerichte) in Germany are specialised courts that handle legal disputes between citizens and public authorities. They ensure that individuals have effective legal protection against government action.
The courts have jurisdiction in areas including immigration and asylum law, municipal law, public service law, regulatory law such as construction, police, security, road traffic and assembly law, school and university law, and environmental law covering immission control, nature conservation and water law.
The system operates across three levels, local administrative courts, higher administrative courts at the state level, and the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) in Leipzig.
To make more efficient use of judicial staff, the reform allows a greater number of cases to be decided by a single judge. This is expected to reduce bottlenecks and speed up the resolution of disputes between citizens and the state.
Under the new rules, citizens will be able to file objections by email for the first time, removing the requirement for paper submissions and making it easier to challenge administrative decisions.
Administrative courts will also gain stronger tools to deal with delayed or frivolous lawsuits. In future, cases that are clearly without merit or deemed an abuse of legal process will only proceed once the claimant has paid a court fee deposit upfront.
When a public authority, such as a city or a federal state, fails to implement an administrative court ruling, the consequences will become significantly harsher. The maximum coercive fine is being raised from €10,000 to €25,000. In addition, fines can now be imposed repeatedly from the outset, for example on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, until the authority complies.
Crucially, the fine revenue will no longer be allowed to flow back to the non-compliant public body itself. The reform explicitly rules out a scenario in which penalty payments simply move from one government pocket to another.
For anyone who has ever challenged a government decision in Germany, whether over a denied building permit, an asylum ruling, or a disputed public benefit, administrative courts are the place to go. These proceedings have long been criticised for being slow and difficult to navigate. The reform approved on Wednesday aims to change that by making the process faster, more accessible, and ensuring that when courts rule in favour of citizens, authorities actually follow through.
Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) underscored the significance of the changes, stating: "We are improving the enforcement of administrative court decisions against the state. Because the rule of law only works when authorities respect and implement court decisions, even when they are inconvenient."
The bill will now be debated by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, Germany's two chambers of parliament. The amendments are expected to enter into force next year.
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