Freedom of information request (Germany)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
The request for access to official information held by a German authority — files, contracts, reports, e-mails or answers to questions: under the Federal Freedom of Information Act (IFG) from federal bodies, under the Land's freedom-of-information or transparency act from Land and municipal bodies, or under the Environmental Information Act (UIG) or the Consumer Information Act (VIG). You choose the act and the form of access; the letter asks for an answer within the statutory time limit, for notice of any fees in advance and for partial access rather than refusal. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's address
- Authority or body holding the information
- Address of the authority or body
- City
- Date
- Act the request is based on
- Information requested
- How access to the information is to be given
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Do I have to give reasons for a freedom of information request in Germany?
- No. Under § 1(1) of the Federal Freedom of Information Act (IFG), anyone has a right of access to official information held by federal authorities without giving reasons; reasons are needed only where third parties' data are involved. The request needs no particular form: a letter, an e-mail, a phone call or a visit will do. A letter lets you prove its wording and date.
- Does the German federal IFG also apply to Land or municipal authorities?
- No, the federal IFG applies only to federal authorities. Land and municipal authorities answer under their Land's freedom-of-information or transparency act, such as the transparency acts of Hamburg and Rhineland-Palatinate. Bavaria and Lower Saxony have no general act of this kind; Bavaria has only a single provision in its data-protection act. Environmental and consumer information have acts of their own — the federal UIG, the Länder's environmental information acts and the VIG — which apply in Bavaria and Lower Saxony too.
- How quickly must a German authority answer an IFG request?
- Under § 7(5) IFG, the information is to be made available without delay, as a rule within one month. The Land acts, the UIG and the VIG set their own time limits, which is why the letter asks for access within the statutory time limit. Note when the request reached the authority, and follow it up if the time limit passes without an answer.
- What does a German IFG request cost?
- Simple answers are free. For more demanding requests the authority charges fees under § 10 IFG and the Information Fees Ordinance (IFGGebV), up to €500. The letter asks to be told the likely cost in advance, so that you can narrow or withdraw the request in time.
- May a German freedom of information request ask questions instead of naming documents?
- Yes. The IFG covers any official information, not only documents you can name precisely. So you can describe what you want to know — all expert reports on a particular building project, say, or the correspondence with a company over a given period. The more precisely the subject, period and department are described, the faster and cheaper the request is to handle.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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