GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Ivana Mikešić and Caroline Schümann-Cohen, R & P Legal
erwise. The general principles of public law will permeate the entire legal relationship and can, in parallel, be subject to judicial scrutiny. 6. Standing 6.1 Requirements for Administrative Law Challenges Claimants bringing administrative law challeng - es are required to have been directly affected by the decision, ruling or factual act. In contrast to civil law proceedings, there are no parties in administrative proceedings, but rather “partici- pants” , defined according to Section 63 nos 1–4 VwGO. These include: • the plaintiff; • the defendant; and • where applicable, the subpoenaed party or invitee. 6.2 Charities and NGOs This hard principle is partly softened for activities initiated by charities and NGOs: they may bring challenges to government decisions where they themselves – as legal entities – are not directly affected by the decision under scrutiny. How - ever, the decision must concern a topic that is subject to the charity’s or NGO’s declared and officially acknowledged purpose – ie, an envi - ronmental NGO cannot bring a case dealing with general consumer protection, and the other way round.
Free State of Bavaria, a public general attorney will be heard by the court. Apart from this, it is not possible for any government body to join an administrative court procedure as an additional party at their own will. 7.2 Roles of Additional Parties Invitees/subpoenaed parties to a procedure are third parties/persons whose interests may be affected by the court’s decision and therefore may or must be involved in the litigation. Any subpoenaed party can bring about measures to end the procedure they have been summoned to. That party has the same level of capacity to settle as the defendant. Apart from this, a subpoenaed party has each and every right to appeal against the judgment passed down. In an administrative court procedure, the public body’s files will have to be disclosed. Usually, the court will summon these files as soon as the claim has been lodged. 8.2 Alternatives to Disclosure/Discovery In addition to disclosure of the public body’s files, the claimant may apply for further disclo - sure of governmental files; the application will be reviewed and sanctioned by the court. 8.3 Live Evidence and Cross- Examination Live evidence and cross-examination of wit - nesses can be applied for by the participants to the procedure or even be initiated by the court itself. 8. Evidence 8.1 Disclosure/Discovery
7. Other Parties 7.1 Joinder
The public body that issued the decision in question will automatically be a participant to the procedure. In some German states, eg, the
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