Rules of Procedure of the Federal Constitutional Court (Geschäftsordnung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, GO-BVerfGG)

Of 15 December 1986 (Federal Law Gazette 1986 I p. 2529), as amended by the decisions of 11 July 1989 (Federal Law Gazette 1989 I p. 1571), and 18 December 1995 (Federal Law Gazette 1996 I p. 474)
 


Table of Contents

Part A: Provisions on the Organization and Administration of the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 1  Article 2   Article 3   Article 4   Article 5   Article 6   Article 7   Article 8   Article 9   Article 10   Article 11   Article 12   Article 13   Article 14   Article 15   Article 16   Article 17   Article 18   Article 19

Part B: Supplementary Procedural Provisions

Title 1: General Procedure

Article 20   Article 21   Article 22   Article 23   Article 24   Article 25 Article 26   Article 27   Article 28   Article 29   Article 30   Article 31   Article 32   Article 33   Article 34   Article 35   Article 35 a Article 36   Article 37

Title 2: Procedure in Cases where Deputization is required pursuant to Articles 15 (2), second sentence, and 19 (4) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 38

Title 3: Procedure in the Chambers pursuant to Articles 81 a and 93 b to 93 d of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 39   Article 40   Article 41   Article 42

Title 4: Procedure in the Committee pursuant to Article 14 (5) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 43  Article 44  Article 45  Article 46  Article 47

Title 5: Procedure in the Plenum pursuant to Article 16 of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 48  Article 49

Title 6: Procedure in the Plenum pursuant to Article 105 of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 50  Article 51  Article 52  Article 53  Article 54  Article 55

Title 7: Procedure in the event of a Separate Vote pursuant to Article 30 (2) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 56

Title 8: Procedure in the Plenum pursuant to Article 7 a of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 57  Article 58  Article 59

Title 9: General Register of the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 60  Article 61  Article 62

Title 10: Final Provisions

Article 63  Article 64  Article 65  Article 66  Article 67  Article 68  Article 69  Article 70


Part A: Provisions on the Organization and Administration of the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 1

(1) The plenum and the President shall work together in the fulfilment of the functions of the Court.

(2) The plenum shall deliberate and decide on the preparation of the budget of the Court, on all questions directly concerning the judges, their status and their conditions of service, and, as required, on general principles relating to the administration of the Court.

(3) The President shall exercise the powers conferred upon him by law and execute the decisions of the plenum on its behalf. He shall be in charge of the administration of the Court; he shall discuss questions of fundamental importance with the plenum.

Article 2

(1) The plenum shall be convened by the President as required, but at least once in the spring and in the autumn.

(2) The President shall convene the plenum without delay should this be requested by the Vice-President, a committee or at least three judges (who must state the subject for consultation).

(3) At least four days should lie between invitation to and holding of a plenum meeting.

(4) The plenum shall be quorate if two-thirds of the judges are present.

(5) The invitation and agenda are, if necessary, to be enclosed with the documents required for consultation.

(6) The President shall place each subject for consultation, which has been submitted no later than three days prior to the meeting, on the agenda. The plenum may, provided no objections are raised, place further subjects on the agenda. A subject which the President, Vice-President, a committee or at least three judges have submitted, cannot be struck from the agenda. The plenum shall in any case decide on the agenda at the start of its meeting.

(7) The President shall chair the meeting. Minutes shall be taken of proceedings; these shall be sent to all judges as soon as possible.

Article 3

(1) The plenum shall set up the following standing committees:

a) a Committee on the Rules of Procedure,
b) a Records Committee,
c) a Committee on Budgetary and Personnel Matters,
d) a Library Committee.

Further committees may be set up as necessary.

(2) Members of the standing committees shall include two judges from each panel; the committees pursuant to (1) (a)-(c) above shall also include the President and Vice-President.

(3) The plenum shall appoint the committee members and deputies for two business years.

(4) The President shall chair those committees of which he/she is a member. The other committees shall elect one of their members as chairman.

(5) Any member of the committee may apply to convene it on stating the subject for consultation. The chairman must convene the committee without delay.

(6) The committee shall be quorate if more than half its members are present.

(7) The standing committees shall act on behalf of the plenum, except when the plenum, in individual cases, opts to deal with the matter in hand or if the committee regards a plenary decision as being necessary. The plenum may bind a committee to its decisions in dealing with a matter, and may pass a matter on to a committee in order to prepare it for consultation and decision within the plenum.

(8) The chairmen shall report to the plenum on their committees' activities at least once a year.

Article 4

Within the Court the President shall be deputized for by the Vice-President or, if the latter is unable to do so, by the longest-serving judge present.

Article 5

(1) The President shall represent the Court in its external relations. If he is unable to do so, he shall be deputized for by the Vice-President or, if this is not possible, by the longest-serving judge present.

(2) The presentation of the opinions of the Court and the safeguarding of its interests vis-à-vis the Federal President, the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, the Federal Government and their committees shall be the responsibility of the President in consultation with the Vice-President. They may be deputized for or supported by other judges.

Article 6

The President shall exercise proprietary powers.

Article 7

(1) The judges shall be kept informed on all major procedures affecting them or the Court itself.

(2) In the case of invitations to the Court the Records Committee shall decide on who will accept it, unless it is appropriate from the form of invitation that the President alone shall accept. In the case of invitations to the Court or to the President, the latter may only be deputized for by a judge.

(3) The same shall apply mutatis mutandis to visits to the Court.

Article 8

The length of service of the judges shall be determined by the date on which they first took the oath as Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court. In the event of identical length of service, their age shall be the determining factor.

Article 9

Insofar as administrative decisions are assigned to the supervisor, supervising official or head of an authority by legislation which, mutatis mutandis, is applicable to judges, such decisions shall be taken by the President.

Article 10

(1) Official travel by judges must be announced to the President who, by countersigning the application form, shows that he/she has no objection to the trip being treated as official. Notwithstanding the provision in sentence 1, the participation of judges in specialist conferences in Germany counts as official travel.

(2) Official travel by research assistants must be approved by the President.

Article 11

(1) The judges shall announce to the President and the chairman of their panel in good time, prior to the event, when and for how long they intend to take leave. They shall deposit their holiday address at the adviser's office.

(2) They shall announce periods of illness and absence from Karlsruhe of more than one week's duration in the same way.

Article 12

(1) Each panel shall be assigned an adviser, who shall be an official qualified to exercise the functions of a judge.

(2) The adviser shall support in particular the presiding judge of the panel in conducting the business of the panel.

(3) In matters relating to the panel he shall take instructions exclusively from the presiding judge.

Article 13

(1) The research assistants shall assist the judges to whom they have been assigned in their official duties. They shall take instructions from such judge.

(2) Each judge is entitled to select his own research assistant. An assistant may not be assigned to him against his will.

(3) Research assistants shall be assessed by their judges. The President may attach his own assessment.

Article 14

(1) The President shall distribute the administrative business. He may generally assign certain business to the chief administrative officer (Director of the Federal Constitutional Court) to be conducted by the latter on his own.

(2) Administrative decisions which concern the judges and are not part of regular administrative business shall be taken by the President himself.

Article 15

(1) The chief administrative officer shall act only on the President's instructions. He shall be deputized for by the adviser of one of the panels.

(2) Preparatory talks or negotiations conducted by administrative officers with representatives of legislative bodies or ministries must adhere to the guidelines laid down in the plenum or one of its committees prior to the event or, should no such guidelines exist, must be conducted according to the President's instructions.

Article 16

Incoming mail must be presented to the President and the Vice-President, unless they state to the contrary.

Article 17

(1) Statements made by the Court shall be distributed by the Press Section. They must be kept in written form. The documentation must state who ordered the statement and the person responsible for its wording.

Article 18

Archives shall be set up in the library of the Court for collecting all material concerning the Court.

Article 19

Insofar as nothing to the contrary arises from the Court's position as supreme collegiate constitutional body, the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court and the Act on the Salaries of Members of the Federal Constitutional Court, from these Rules of Procedure or from special administrative provisions handed down by the Court, the general administrative provisions for supreme Federal authorities shall apply.

Part B: Supplementary Procedural Provisions

Title 1: General Procedure

Article 20

(1) Before the start of a business year each panel shall decide, with effect from the start of that business year, on the principles according to which the applications for the institution of proceedings are to be distributed among the judges, including the presiding judge, in the capacity of rapporteurs. Deviation from these principles shall be admissible during the business year only if this becomes necessary because of an excessive workload or a judge being unable to perform his functions for an extended period.

(2) Pursuant to paragraph 1 above the presiding judge shall appoint the rapporteur. If a matter is particularly important he may, in consultation with the panel, appoint a co-rapporteur.

Article 21

(1) The panels shall determine on which weekdays they shall regularly meet for consultations. Extraordinary meetings require a panel decision; in urgent cases the chairman may convene an extraordinary meeting.

(2) The chairman shall decide on the agenda in coordination with the panel. The agenda is to be sent to the judges at least ten days prior to the meeting.

Article 22

(1) Decisions pursuant to Articles 24 and 81 a of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court may be taken without lodging an application; the same applies when acceptance of the constitutional complaint is refused (Articles 93 a, 93 b of the Law on the FCC).

(2) The lodging of an application by the chairman (Article 23 (2) of the Law on the FCC) shall occur at the suggestion of the rapporteur.

(3) The further course of the proceedings, in particular orders affecting the subject matter, is the responsibility of the rapporteur, in coordination with the chairman where required.

(4) Requests to supreme Federal courts or Land courts (Article 82 (4) of the Law on the FCC) shall be ordered by the chairman of the panel at the suggestion of the rapporteur. Corresponding requests may also be ordered in cases other than those involving a review of specific laws (Article 13, no. 11 of the Law on the FCC).

(5) At the suggestion of the rapporteur or on the decision of the panel, the chairman shall request expertises from persons with special knowledge of a specific subject on an issue of relevance to the decision.

(6) All measures pertaining to the proceedings shall be recorded in the files.

Article 23

(1) For every matter to be decided by the panel the rapporteur shall produce a written vote. At this point at the latest the members of the panel shall also receive the reference files containing all documents of relevance to the proceedings and the decision. In simple cases a draft decision with reasons may be produced instead of a vote.

(2) There shall be a period of at least ten days between the distribution of the vote and the deliberations or the oral pleadings.

Article 24

(1) The panel shall decide whether to hold oral pleadings.

(2) As a rule, oral pleadings shall be based on an outline for the proceedings which has been approved by the panel and forwarded to the parties to the proceedings in advance of the oral pleadings.

(3) The tape recording of the oral pleadings (Article 25 a, sentence 2, of the Law on the FCC) shall only be made available to the judges and those parties involved in the proceedings to be heard in the courtroom. Copying and private hearing of the tape is not permissible.

(4) If and when transcripts are produced for the Court's use, those parties involved may receive copies. Upon application by one of the parties, the Court may produce further copies, normally charged at cost price, provided the party gives evidence of a legitimate interest. In the case of applications by third parties, Article 35 (2) and (3) shall be applied mutatis mutandis.

(5) Copies of statements may be approved for publication or analysis in an academic publication or a documentation of the pleadings if this is justified after weighing up the public interest in publication and the concerns of the parties involved in the pleadings and the authors of the statements. Should personal data be included in the transcripts, the provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act shall apply to transmission for research purposes (Article 15 (1) in conjunction with Articles 14 (2) no. 9, 16 (1) no. 2, and 40 (4) of the Federal Data Protection Act).

(6) Before allowing access to a statement made in a transcript, the author shall be given an opportunity to confirm the correct nature of the transcript; he/she may also propose stylistic changes, as long as the content remains unchanged. The decision shall rest with the chairman. If he/she raises no objections to the changes, these shall be recorded in the files. Hearing of the author may be dispensed with if this would entail disproportionate time and trouble.

(7) At the beginning of oral pleadings reference shall be made to paragraphs (4) to (6) above and to Article 25 a of the Law on the FCC.

Article 25

Only the judges participating in a case may attend the deliberations.

Article 26

(1) After commencement of deliberations on a matter where less than eight judges are present, they may not be joined by other judges. The deliberations may be recommenced only if there is not a statutory quorum for the continuation of the initial deliberations.

(2) Any judge who has participated in the decision may, until it is proclaimed or drawn up in writing for delivery, demand that the deliberations be continued if he intends to change his vote; he may request that the deliberations be continued if he wishes to present aspects not discussed previously or if he intends to make a separate vote.

(3) Decisions which are not taken on the basis of oral pleadings shall be given the date on which they were finally taken.

Article 27

The course of deliberations shall be decided by the panel. Should the matter raise several legal issues, votes shall as a rule be taken on each issue in turn before a decision is reached on the matter itself.

Article 28

(1) The judges who took part in a decision shall be listed in the caption by name, in order of length of service, after the chairman.

(2) Should a judge who participated in a decision be prevented from signing, this is to be witnessed by the chairman.

Article 29

Decisions to be published in the Federal Law Gazette shall be sent by the panel adviser to the Federal Ministry of Justice. Should the decision not be published in the Federal Law Gazette three months after proclamation or delivery, the adviser shall inform the chairman and the rapporteur of this fact.

Article 30

If the decision is announced to the representative of a constitutional organ taking part in proceedings, it shall also be sent directly to that organ.

Article 31

(1) The decisions of the plenum pursuant to Article 16 (1) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court and of the panels shall be published in a collection of the decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court, authorized by the Court itself, which shall be published independently by the judges.

(2) The plenum or the panel may rule out publication of a decision in the collection. This decision shall be recorded on file.

(3) If a chamber decision pursuant to Articles 81 a, 93 b or 93 c of the Law on the FCC is of particular individual interest, the panel may, at the chamber's suggestion, have it published in the collection.

(4) The names of the judges who took part in the decision shall also be published in the collection.

(5) Names of persons, associations and places shall in principle be abbreviated to the first initial letter on publication.

(6) If a surplus results from the publication of the authorized collection of Federal Constitutional Court decisions, this shall be used for the purposes of a professional association of judges who are members of the FCC or for charitable purposes.

Article 32

(1) Press statements on decisions made must be approved by the rapporteur and the chairman and cannot be published until it can be assumed that the decision has been received by those involved in the case.

(2) The same shall apply to chamber decisions.

Article 33

In the Federal Constitutional Court a reference work on the judgments of the Court shall be kept for the benefit of the work of the Court. Third parties may consult it in accordance with the library regulations.

Article 34

Votes, draft decisions, proposed amendments and formulations, and notes made by the rapporteur, are not part of the proceedings files. They must be kept in a separate envelope together with the files, and access shall not be granted to them.

Article 35

(1) Files on the proceedings of the Court shall not be made available to other courts or to authorities; the panel shall decide on exceptions in special instances.

(2) The presiding judge of the panel may grant a person who is not a party to the proceedings access to the files if he can credibly show that he has a legitimate interest and the interests of the parties to the proceedings are not harmed. The same shall apply to access to files by a party (Article 20 of the Law on the FCC) after the proceedings have been concluded. The decision to grant such access shall rest with the presiding judge of the panel, with the agreement of the rapporteur.

(3) The provisions of the Data Protection Act regarding the transmission of personal data shall apply.

Article 35 a

Decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court must be checked to ensure that all names are abbreviated to the first initial before being passed on to authorities, courts or private third parties. Further details shall be laid down in an order by the President of the FCC.

Article 36

(1) The Court's proceedings files, together with the votes, may be sent to the Federal Archives, in accordance with an agreement, after ten years at the earliest; this agreement must be approved by the plenum. The files cannot be used for research until thirty years after the decision was adopted.

(2) Destruction of files is only permissible after twenty years. In all cases, applications to begin proceedings, originals of the Court's decisions and complete files, including votes, shall be exempt from destruction if the panel has excluded them on account of their historical value.

Article 37

Each adviser shall compile a list in which he/she shall include:
a) the decisions taken on both panels regarding the fixing of a value for a matter in dispute, specifying the date, reference number and subject of the dispute,
b) the fees charged by the panels and courts pursuant to Article 34 (2) of the Law on the FCC, specifying the amount, reference number and date of decision.

Title 2: Procedure in Cases where Deputization is required pursuant to Articles 15 (2), second sentence, and 19 (4) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 38

(1) In the case of Articles 15 (2), sentence 2, and 19 (4), sentence 1, of the Law on the FCC, the chairman of the panel on which deputization is required shall apply the principle of drawing lots.

(2) The chairman of the other panel shall carry out the draw. He/she shall inform the judges on his/her panel of the date of the draw and appoint the adviser as witness. Minutes shall be kept of the draw; these shall be added to the files of the proceedings. The result of the draw shall be communicated to all judges.

(3) Article 15 (1), sentence 2, of the Law on the FCC shall apply mutatis mutandis to the ordering and implementation of the draw.

Title 3: Procedure in the Chambers pursuant to Articles 81 a and 93 b to 93 d of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 39

The President and the Vice-President shall chair the chamber to which they belong; in the other chambers the chairman shall be the longest-serving judge, age deciding in the case of equal length of service.

Article 40

(1) The chambers shall, within the scope of their competence, decide, normally by way of a written vote, in the proceedings which are allocated to one of their members as rapporteur. Should a judge be a member of several chambers, the panel shall decide, pursuant to Article 15 a (2) of the Law on the FCC, the division of competencies for the proceedings allocated to him/her in the various chambers.

(2) Should no unanimous vote be reached by the chamber, the panel shall decide also in cases under Article 93 d (2) of the Law on the FCC.

(3) If the chamber refuses to accept a constitutional complaint, any applications made in this matter for the issue of a temporary injunction shall become invalid.

Article 41

The rapporteur may, prior to the chamber's decision on the acceptance or validity of a constitutional complaint (Articles 81 a, 93 b of the Law on the FCC), obtain statements from parties entitled to make statements (Article 82 together with Articles 77 and 94 of the Law on the FCC) or from third parties, and may make applications to the chambers referred to in Article 82 (4) of the Law on the FCC.

Article 42

If, in proceedings on a rejected constitutional complaint, files from the chamber against whose decision the complaint was directed were consulted, that chamber must be sent a copy of the decision together with the files. The same shall apply if a constitutional organ or authority was asked to make a statement on the complaint, or if the complaint was directed against the decision of a supreme Federal court.

Title 4: Procedure in the Committee pursuant to Article 14 (5) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 43

In the committee to be formed pursuant to Article 14 (5) of the Law on the FCC, each panel shall elect two judges and two deputies for one business year. The President shall be deputized for by the Vice-President; should he/she be unable to attend, the deputy shall be the longest-serving judge, age deciding in the case of equal length of service.

Article 44

(1) The advisers shall inform the chairmen of the two panels of all applications to begin proceedings, and must point to any doubts which may exist regarding the panel's jurisdiction. The chairman shall, if necessary, call a discussion on the matter in his/her panel.

(2) A matter may be passed on to the other panel at short notice if the chairmen and rapporteurs of both panels are agreed.

(3) Any judge may apply to convene the committee. This shall be convened without delay, normally within fourteen days.

(4) The procedure in paragraph (3) above shall be precluded if the panel has already begun its deliberations.

Article 45

The President shall appoint a rapporteur for each panel from the members of the committee. The rapporteurs may take a written vote on the matter of jurisdiction, either jointly or separately.

Article 46

The committee's decisions shall be recorded by the chairman in a file note. They shall not be justified. They shall be communicated to all judges and added to the files on the proceedings.

Article 47

The panel whose jurisdiction was established by a decision of the committee shall make this fact known in its decision.

Title 5: Procedure in the Plenum pursuant to Article 16 of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 48

(1) The panel which intends to deviate in a point of law from the legal opinion contained in a decision by the other panel or the plenum shall invoke the plenum by means of a decision of the panel.

(2) Invocation of the plenum shall not be necessary if the panel from whose decision deviation is intended states, upon inquiry, that it will not adhere to its legal opinion.

Article 49

(1) The presiding judge of each panel shall appoint a rapporteur to prepare the decision of the plenum. Each rapporteur shall submit a vote at least ten days before the plenary meeting.

(2) The reasons shall be stated for the decision of the plenum. It shall be treated in a similar way to decisions of the panels.

Title 6: Procedure in the Plenum pursuant to Article 105 of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 50

(1) The application to begin proceedings pursuant to Article 105 (1) of the Law on the FCC may be made by at least six members of the Court; in the case of Article 105 (1) no. 1, also jointly by the President and Vice-President.

(2) The application, along with the reasons, shall be sent to all Court members in a confidential form, and a receipt for the application must be signed by them.

Article 51

The judge against whom the application is directed shall be given the opportunity to make a written statement and to state his case orally before the plenum.

Article 52

The decision to begin proceedings requires the approval of at least eight judges. The plenum shall deliberate and decide in the absence of the judge involved. The decision shall not be justified; it shall be signed by the participating judges and subsequently shown to the judge involved.

Article 53

Following initiation of proceedings, the plenum shall appoint an investigating judge from among its number. He/she shall hear the judge involved and shall carry out the necessary investigations; he/she shall call the judge involved to hearings of evidence. He/she shall inform the plenum, in writing and during oral pleadings, of the results of the investigation; his/her report shall close with a proposed decision. He/she shall not take part in the deliberations and decision.

Article 54

Oral pleadings shall take place in camera. Upon application by the judge involved the public may, however, be admitted.

Article 55

(1) The proceedings on an application pursuant to Article 105 (1) of the Law on the FCC shall be discontinued if the judge against whom the application is directed has been dismissed pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on the FCC or if he/she retires due to the expiry of his/her term of office or upon his/her own request (Article 98 (1), (2) no. 2 of the Law on the FCC).

(2) Proceedings shall also be discontinued if the application is withdrawn prior to a decision pursuant to Article 105 (4) of the Law on the FCC, except when the plenum decides to initiate or continue it.

Title 7: Procedure in the event of a Separate Vote pursuant to Article 30 (2) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 56

(1) The separate vote in which a judge records the dissenting opinion on the decision or the reasons which he held during the deliberations must be submitted to the presiding judge of the panel within three weeks of completion of the decision. The panel may extend this time-limit.

(2) Anyone intending to submit a separate vote must inform the panel of this as soon as the state of the deliberations permits.

(3) If the separate vote is submitted with regard to a decision, the presiding judge shall announce this fact during the proclamation. The dissenting judge may then note the main points of his separate vote.

(4) The separate vote shall be made known together with the decision.

(5) The separate vote shall be published in the collection of decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court as an annex to the decision and shall bear the name of the dissenting judge.

(6) The above provisions shall apply mutatis mutandis to separate votes on decisions of the plenum.

Title 8: Procedure in the Plenum pursuant to Article 7 a of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 57

Any judge may propose candidates for the election to the plenum pursuant to Article 7 a of the Law on the FCC. These proposals must be sent in, with reasons, no later than one week before the plenum meets; the candidate must state whether he agrees to his nomination to the plenum. If all judges present agree, the deadline for proposals may be waived.

Article 58

(1) The election candidates shall be voted on in secret following the statements. The quorum shall be governed by Article 7 a (2), third sentence, together with Article 16 (2) of the Law on the FCC.

(2) The first round of voting shall take place using voting slips on which the candidates are listed in alphabetical order. Each judge has as many votes as there are candidates. The judge who receives at least the majority of the votes cast, in the order arising from the number of votes, shall be elected.

(3) Should the first round of voting be partly or completely unsuccessful, the candidates shall be elected by special rounds using voting slips on which those entitled to vote shall write one name only. This procedure shall be repeated until one candidate receives the majority of the votes cast; in each round the candidate who receives the least votes shall be excluded.

Article 59

(1) Should the election pursuant to Article 58 above not result in sufficient candidates, the remaining candidates shall be selected in a second election. This is to take place two calendar weeks after the end of the first election. New candidates may be nominated or former ones renominated; the deadline pursuant to Article 57, second sentence, above shall be reduced to three days. The plenum may decide that in the new election voting shall only take place using the method referred to in Article 58 (3) above.

(2) If, in the case of paragraph (1), sentence 1, above, candidates for the new election are proposed during the plenum meeting itself, a decision on the immediate holding of the new election may be taken on the votes of all judges present. Should only candidates who have already been nominated be put forward, the candidate with a two-thirds majority of the judges present may be elected.

Title 9: General Register of the Federal Constitutional Court

Article 60

(1) Submissions to the Federal Constitutional Court which neither concern an administrative matter of the Court nor are admissible under the provisions of a constitutional court procedure shall be recorded in the General Register and treated as a matter of judicial administration. In particular, these shall include:

a) inquiries on judgments of the Federal Constitutional Court and on proceedings that are pending or have been concluded,
b) submissions with which the submitting party neither makes a specific application nor asserts a claim falling within the competence of the Federal Constitutional Court.

(2) Constitutional complaints

a) whose acceptance for decision (Article 93a of the Law on the FCC) is out of the question, since they are clearly inadmissible or, with due regard for the precedents of the Federal Constitutional Court, do not have sufficient prospect of success or,
b) for which the competence of either panel cannot be determined immediately

may also be recorded in the General Register.

Article 61

(1) The decision on whether a matter is to be recorded in the General Register shall be taken by the President or the Vice-President. The President may generally delegate the power of decision to the advisers. They shall decide by mutual agreement; if either of them is unable to act, the other shall take the decision on his own.

(2) A matter which has been recorded in the General Register pursuant to Article 60 (2 a) above shall be transferred to the register of proceedings if the submitter, on being informed of the legal position, requests a judicial decision.

(3) If a matter is to be transferred from the General Register to the register of proceedings, it must be sent to the adviser of the panel which is deemed to be competent for it. Paragraph (1) above shall apply mutatis mutandis to the decision regarding transfer. If, in the case of Article 60 (2) (b), the committee convened pursuant to Article 14 (5) of the Law on the FCC has decided on the competence of the panels, the adviser of the panel thus declared to be competent shall have the matter recorded in the register of proceedings.

Article 62

(1) One of the advisers shall be responsible for the General Register. The other adviser shall deputize for him.

(2) The adviser shall be assisted by at least one official who is authorized to sign and is qualified to exercise the functions of a judge as well as by officials of the clerical branch of the civil service.

Title 10: Final Provisions

Article 63

For the purposes of the present Rules of Procedure, members of the Court shall include judges who continue to serve as judges after expiration of their term of office (Article 4 (4) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court).

Article 64

During oral pleadings the judges shall wear a gown and cap.

Article 65

The business year of the Federal Constitutional Court shall be the calendar year.

Article 66

(1) The work of the Federal Constitutional Court shall be recorded for statistical purposes.

(2) The Court's workload shall be recorded in monthly statistics and, at the end of the business year, in overall statistics.

Article 67

Notwithstanding Article 19 above, the Court building shall display flags during oral proceedings, the passing down of a judgment, and on the President's special order.

Article 68

(1) Any judge may make an application to amend these Rules of Procedure. Application must be made in writing, and must contain the formulated amendment to the text and the reasons for amendment.

(2) At least one month's grace must be observed between application and decision by the plenum.

(3) In a state of defence (Articles 115 a (1), 115 g of the Basic Law) these Rules of Procedure may be amended with the votes of the majority of the judges present, should this be necessary in order to maintain the Court's effectiveness.

Article 69

These Rules of Procedure shall be published in the Federal Law Gazette.

Article 70

(Entry into force)
 

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The above translation was first published by  Inter Nationes as part of: Law on the Federal Constitutional Court, ed. by Sigrid Born, translated by Martin Fry and produced by Ilona Orthen. Reproduced with kind permission. © 1996 Inter Nationes. This HTML edition © 1998 Gerhard Dannemann. The contents of this page may be downloaded and printed out in single copies for individual use only. Making multiple copies without permission is prohibited.