Law of the Federal Republic of Germany on Political Parties (1967, as amended 1999) (English)
The Law on Political Parties
(Party Law)
Dated 24 July 1967
Amended version of 31 January 1994 (Federal Law Gazette I, Page 149),
further amended by the Law of 17 February 1999 (Federal Law Gazette I, Page 146)
Section I
General Provisions
Article 1
(1) Political parties are a component of the free democratic basic order required under the Constitution. Due to their free and continuous participation in the formation of the political will of the people, they perform a public function which is incumbent on them under the Basic Law and which they undertake to fulfil to the best of their ability.
(2) The parties shall participate in the formation of the political will of the people in all fields of public life, in particular by exerting influence on the shaping of public opinion; inspiring and furthering political education; promoting active public participation in political life; training capable people to assume public responsibilities; participating in federal, Land and local government elections by nominating candidates; exerting influence on political developments in parliament and government; incorporating their defined political aims into the national decision-making process; and ensuring continuous, vital links between the people and the instruments of state.
(3) The parties shall lay down their aims in political programs.
(4) The parties shall use their funds solely for performing the functions incumbent on them under the Basic Law and this law.
Article 2
Definition of a Political Party
(1) Parties are associations of citizens which exert influence permanently or for longer periods of time on the formation of the political will at federal or Land level and participate in the representation of the people in the German Bundestag or regional parliaments (Landtag) provided that they offer sufficient guarantee of the sincerity of their aims in the general character of their circumstances and attendant conditions, particularly with regard to the size and strength of their organization, their memberships and their conduct in public. Only natural persons may be members of a party.
(2) An organization shall lose its legal status as a party if it does not participate in either a federal election or a Landtag election with nominations of its own for six years.
(3) Political organizations shall not be deemed parties if
1. the majority of their members or the members of their executive committees are aliens; or
2. the registered seat of business is located outside the purview of the present law.
Article 3
Active and Passive Legitimization
A political party may institute legal proceedings in its own name and lawsuits may be brought against it. The same shall apply to its top regional branches, unless specified otherwise in the party statutes.
Article 4
Designation
(1) The name of the party must be clearly distinguishable from that of any existing party; this shall also apply to acronyms. In canvassing and the electoral procedure, only the registered name or acronym may be used; supplementary designations may be omitted.
(2) Regional branches shall bear the name of the party and the designation of their organizational status. This supplementary designation in connection with the name of regional branches is only permissible if it is placed after the name of the party. The supplementary designation may be omitted in general advertising and canvassing.
(3) Regional branches which withdraw from a party shall lose the right to continue to use the party's name. A newly chosen name may not merely consist of an addendum to the previous name. The same shall apply to acronyms.
Article 5
Equal Treatment
(1) Where a public authority provides facilities or other public services for use by one party, equal treatment must be accorded to all parties. The scale on which such facilities and services are provided may be graduated to conform with the importance of the parties to the minimum extent needed for the achievement of their aims. The importance of a party shall be judged in particular from the results of previous government elections. The scale on which such facilities and services are accorded to a party that is represented in the Bundestag by a parliamentary group must be at least half that granted to any other party.
(2) With regard to the accordance of public services in connection with an election, Paragraph 1 shall apply only for the duration of the election campaign to parties which have submitted nominations.
(3) The public services defined in Paragraph 1 may be made dependent on certain pre-conditions which all parties have to fulfil.
(4) Section IV shall remain unaffected.
Section II
Internal Organization
Article 6
Statutes and Program
(1) A party must have written statutes and a written program. The regional branches shall conduct their affairs on the basis of their own statutes, unless specified otherwise in the statutes of their immediately superior regional branch.
(2) The statutes must contain provisions on:
1. The name and any acronym used, the registered seat and the field of activities of the party.
2. The admission and resignation of members.
3. The rights and duties of members.
4. Permissible disciplinary measures against members and their exclusion from the party (Article 10 (3) - (5)).
5. Permissible disciplinary measures against regional branches.
6. The general organization of the party.
7. Composition and powers of the executive committee and other bodies.
8. Matters which may only be decided at members' and delegates' assemblies pursuant to Article 9.
9. The preconditions, form and time limit for convening members' and delegates' assemblies and the official recording of the resolutions passed.
10. Regional branches and bodies which are authorized to submit (sign) nominations for elections to parliaments insofar as there are no relevant legal provisions.
11. A ballot among members and the procedure to be adopted when the party convention passes a resolution to dissolve the party or a regional branch or to merge with another party or parties pursuant to Article 9 (3). The resolution shall be deemed confirmed, amended or rescinded according to the result of the ballot.
12. Form and content of a financial structure which shall comply with the rules laid down in Section V of this law.
(3) The executive committee must inform the Federal Returning Officer of:
1. The party's statutes and program.
2. The names and functions of the members of the executive committee of the party and its Land branches.
3. The dissolution of the party or a Land branch.
Amendments to Sentence 1 (1) and (2) above must be notified by 31 December of the given calendar year. The relevant documents are held by the Federal Returning Officer and made available to the public for perusal and inspection. Copies of the documents must be provided free of charge on request.
(4) Parties whose organizations are confined to the territory of a Land (Land parties) shall be subject to the provisions set out in this law for parties as a whole shall apply to the Land branches.
Article 7
Organization
(1) Parties shall be organized in regional branches. The size and scope of the regional branches shall be laid down in the statutes. The regional structure of the party must be developed to a sufficient degree to enable individual members to participate on an appropriate scale in the formation of the political will of the party. Any party whose organization is confined to the territory of a city-state does not need to establish regional branches; it constitutes a party within the meaning of the present law. It is permissible for several regional branches to merge for organizational purposes if this does not substantially impair the branch structure of the party organization.
(2) Where there are no Land branches in a party, the provisions set out in the present law for Land branches shall apply for the next level of regional branch below that of the party it-self.
Article 8
Bodies
(1) The members' assembly and executive committee constitute the essential bodies of the party and its regional branches. The statutes may state that in the supra-local branches the members' assembly may be replaced by a delegates' assembly whose members are elected for a maximum of two years at members' or delegates' assemblies of the subordinate branches. Land parties without any regional branches (Article 7 (1) 4) may replace the members' assembly with a delegates' assembly if they have more than 250 members. Delegates' assemblies may also be established for local branches which have more than 250 members or which cover a large geographical area.
(2) The statutes may also provide for other institutions (bodies) which help in the formation of opinion at regional branch level. They must be explicitly designated as such in the statutes.
Article 9
Members' and Delegates' Assemblies
(Party Convention, General Assembly)
(1) The members' or delegates' assembly (party convention, general assembly) is the supreme body of a regional branch. In higher-level regional branches, this assembly is called a "party convention" and, at lower levels, a "general assembly"; the provisions for the party convention set out below shall also apply to the general assembly. Party conventions shall convene at least every second calendar year.
(2) Pursuant to the statutes, members of the executive committee and members of other bodies of a regional branch as well as members of the group of people defined in Article 11 (2) may be members of a delegates' assembly, but in this case the number of them eligible to vote must not exceed a fifth of the total number of assembly members.
(3) On the basis of the competence of a regional branch within the party, the party convention shall decide on party programs, statutes, subscriptions, arbitration procedures, the dissolution of the party and mergers with other parties.
(4) The party convention shall elect the chair of the regional branch, his deputies and the other members of the executive committee, the members of any other bodies that may be established and delegates in the bodies of higher-level regional branches unless the present law permits another procedure.
(5) The party convention shall receive a progress report from the executive committee at least every two years and shall pass a resolution on it. Prior to its presentation, the financial part of the report shall be verified by auditors elected by the party convention.
Article 10
Members' Rights
(1) Pursuant to the detailed provisions of the statutes, the competent bodies of the party shall freely decide on the admission of new members. No reasons need to be given for rejecting an application for admission. Neither general nor temporary bans admission shall be permissible. Persons who have been deprived by judicial decision of their eligibility for office or of their right to vote may not become members of a party.
(2) Party members and delegates in the party bodies shall have equal voting rights. Pursuant to the detailed provisions of the statutes, the exercise of voting rights can be made dependent on members having paid their membership fees. A member may resign from the party at any time without notice.
(3) The statutes shall contain provisions stipulating
1. permissible disciplinary measures against members;
2. the reasons for such measures;
3. the party bodies which may initiate disciplinary measures. If a member is deprived of party offices or of the qualification to hold such offices, the reasons for such a decision must be stated.
(4) A member may only be expelled from the party if he or she deliberately infringes the statutes or the principles of discipline of the party, thereby inflicting serious damage on the party.
(5) The arbitration court defined as competent under the arbitration procedure code shall decide on expulsions from the party. The right to appeal to a higher court must be guaranteed. Decisions must be justified in writing. In urgent and serious cases calling for immediate action, the executive committee of the party or a regional branch may exclude a member from exercising his or her rights until the arbitration court has reached a decision.
Article 11
Executive Committee
(1) The executive committee shall be elected at least every two calendar years. It must comprise at least three members.
(2) By virtue of the statutes, the executive committee may include members of parliament and other high-ranking persons in the party if they hold office or mandate as the result of an election. The proportion of members not elected under the provisions of Article 9 (4) must not exceed one fifth of the total number of executive committee members. The chair-person and treasurer of a party may not exercise comparable functions in any political foundation associated with the party.
(3) The executive committee shall manage the regional branch and conducts its affairs in accordance with the law and the statutes as well as with the resolutions of the supreme bodies of the party. It shall represent the regional branch in accordance with Article 26 (2) of the Civil Code (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) unless the statutes specify otherwise.
(4) An executive presiding committee may be formed from the members of the executive committee to implement the resolutions of the latter and to carry out regular and particularly urgent executive committee business. Its members may also be elected by the executive committee or stipulated in the statutes.
Article 12
General Party Committees
(1) Members of general party committees and similar institutions endowed pursuant to the statutes with extensive powers for deliberating or deciding on questions of party policy and organization may also be elected by subordinate regional branches.
(2) The chairperson and members of the group of persons defined in Article 11 (2) may also belong to such a body by virtue of the statutes. The proportion of non-elected members must not exceed one third of the total number of members of this body; it may be augmented by the election of non-voting members with merely advisory functions, but even in this case the proportion of non-elected members must still be less than half of the total number of members.
(3) Members of the bodies specified in Paragraph 1 shall hold office for a maximum of two years.
Article 13
Composition of Delegates' Assemblies
The composition of a delegates' assembly or of any other body wholly or partly comprising delegates from regional branches must be laid down in the statutes. The number of delegates from a regional branch shall primarily be calculated on the basis of the number of members represented. The statutes may stipulate that the composition of the remaining delegates, no more than half of the total number, shall be determined in accordance with the proportion of votes obtained at regional branch level in previous parliamentary elections. The exercise of this right to vote may be made dependent on the fulfilment of the regional branch's requirement to pay its membership fees.
Article 14
Party Arbitration Courts
(1) Courts of arbitration shall be set up at least at party level and at the top-level regional branches to settle and decide on disputes between the party or a regional branch and individual members as well as on disputes over the interpretation and implementation of the statutes. Joint courts of arbitration may be set up for several regional branches at district level.
(2) The members of the arbitration courts shall be elected for a maximum of four years. They must not be members of the executive committee of the party or a regional branch, be employed by the party or a regional branch, nor receive regular income from them. They shall be independent and not be subject to instructions.
(3) The statutes may provide for the arbitration courts to comprise, in general or in particular cases, associate judges nominated on a parity basis by the litigants.
(4) The functions of the arbitration court shall be governed by an arbitration court code designed to guarantee litigants a legal hearing, fair proceedings and the challenge of a member of the arbitration court for bias.
Article 15
Formation of Will in the Bodies
(1) The bodies shall adopt their resolutions on the basis of a simple majority vote unless a higher majority vote is prescribed by law or by the statutes.
(2) The elections of the members of the executive committee and the delegates to delegates' assemblies as well as to bodies of higher-level regional branches shall be secret. Voting may be open at all other elections unless voters object when asked.
(3) The statutory provisions governing the filing of motions must be such as to ensure a democratic formation of will and in particular the adequate discussion of proposals also put forward by minorities. At least the delegates of the regional branches at the next two lower levels must be granted the right to file motions at the assemblies of higher-level regional branches. Any commitment to resolutions taken by other bodies shall be impermissible at elections and polls.
Article 16
Measures Against Regional Branches
(1) The dissolution and expulsion of subordinate regional branches or the removal from office of whole bodies of the aforementioned shall be permissible only in cases of serious infringement of party principles or discipline. The statutes shall stipulate
1. the reasons for which the measures shall be permissible;
2. the higher-level regional branch and the body of that regional branch that may pass such measures.
(2) The executive committee of the party or a higher-level regional branch must receive confirmation of a measure provided for in Paragraph 1 from a senior body. The measure shall be repealed if it is not confirmed at the next party convention.
(3) It is permissible to appeal to an arbitration court against measures provided for in Paragraph 1.
Section III
Nomination of Candidates for Election
Article 17
Nomination of Candidates
The nomination of candidates for election to all levels of government must be by secret ballot. The nomination procedure shall be as prescribed by the electoral laws and party statutes.
Section IV
State Funding
Article 18
Principles and Volume of State Funding
(1) The state shall grant funds to the parties as a partial contribution towards performing the duties generally incumbent upon them under the Basic Law. The allocation of state funds shall depend on the success a party achieves with the voters in European, Bundestag and Landtag elections, on the sum of its membership fees and on the amount of money it obtains from donations.
(2) The maximum total volume of state funds which may be paid to all parties each year shall be 230 million marks (absolute upper limit) at the time the regulation enters into force.
(3) Under the state funding program, the parties shall each year receive:
1. one German mark for each valid vote cast for its list or
2. one German mark for each valid vote cast for a party in a constituency or polling district whose list was not approved in a Land, and
3. DM 0.50 for each German mark which it has obtained as bestowals (membership fee or rightfully obtained donation); in this context, only bestowals up to DM 6,000 per natural person shall be taken into account.
Notwithstanding numbers 1 and 2 above, the parties shall receive DM 1.30 for every vote they obtain up to five million valid votes.
(4) Parties which, according to the final result, have obtained at least 0.5 % of the valid votes cast for lists at the latest European or Bundestag election or 1 % in a Land election shall be entitled to state funds in accordance with Paragraph 3, Nos. 1 and 3; in order to qualify for payments under Paragraph 3, sentence 1, no. 1 and sentence 2, the party must meet these requirements in the election concerned. Parties which, according to the final election result, have obtained 10 % of the valid votes cast in a constituency or polling district shall be entitled to state funds under Paragraph 3, no. 2. Sentences 1 an 2 shall not apply to parties of national minorities.
(5) The amount of state funds must not exceed the annual income gained by a party itself through good management (Article 24 (2), nos. 1 to 5 and 7) (relative upper limit). The sum of the funds made available to all parties must not exceed the absolute upper limit.
(6) Upon the entry into force of this Law, the Federal President shall appoint a committee of independent experts. When this committee takes up its work, it must agree on a "basket" of the goods and services associated with what are the typical functions of the parties. Using this as a basis, the committee shall each year, beginning in 1995 and relating to 1991, determine the increase in the prices of party-relevant expenditure. The committee shall submit the results to the President of the German Bundestag. The committee shall be appointed for the duration of the term of Office of the Federal President.
(7) Before making any changes to the structure and scope of state funding which take it beyond the price increases established in accordance with Paragraph 6, the committee specified in Paragraph 6 shall submit recommendations to the German Bundestag. This shall notably apply to the assessment of the question of whether the conditions have changed considerably and of whether in view of this an adjustment of the total volume or a change in the structure of the state partial funding program is therefore due.
(8) If a party is dissolved or banned, it shall lose its eligibility for support under the state partial funding program from the date of its dissolution.
Article 19
Fixing Procedure
(1) The parties must apply to the President of the German Bundestag in writing by 30 September of each year for the fixing and disbursement of the state funds. Applications received after that date shall not be considered.
(2) The President of the German Bundestag shall fix the volume of state funds each eligible party is entitled to for the current year by 1 December each year.
(3) The basis for fixing the volume of state funds is the number of valid votes obtained by the eligible parties by 31 October of the current year in the latest European, Bundestag or Landtag elections and the bestowals published in the statements of account (Article 18 (3), no. 3) for the previous year. The President of the German Bundestag shall record the valid votes for each party qualified for consideration under Article 18 (4) in a vote account and keep it up to date.
(4) If a party's statement of account for the previous year is not received on time for it to be considered for the fixing procedure specified in Paragraph 2, the bestowals recorded in the previous statement of accounts shall be used as a temporary basis. The final volume shall be fixed when the statement of accounts has been submitted. If the statement has not been submitted by 31 December, the final volume shall be fixed without consideration being taken of bestowals on the party that has failed to submit its statement of accounts. Any discrepancy between the temporary and the final volumes fixed must be settled with the next advances to the parties or, where there is no basis for settlement, offset.
(5) The calculation of the relative upper limit (Article 18 (5)) shall be based on the income gained by the parties themselves by good management and indicated in the statements of account for the preceding year.
(6) During the fixing procedure, first the absolute limit (Article 18 (2)) must be observed and then the relative limit for each party (Article 18 (5)). If the total sum of state funds calculated exceeds the absolute limit, the parties shall only be entitled to a volume of state funds equal to their proportion of that sum.
(7) Advances pursuant to Article 20 shall be deducted from the amount fixed.
(8) The state funds for the valid votes obtained in Land elections shall be disbursed to the party's Land branch at the rate of DM 1.00 per vote; any reductions made under Paragraph 6 shall not be taken into consideration. The remaining state funds shall be disbursed to the party's national branch or, if the party is only represented at Land level, to the Land branch.
Article 20
Advances
(1) Parties entitled to state funds must, upon application, be granted advances on the amount established by the President of the German Bundestag. Such payments shall be calculated on the basis of the funds allocated to each party in the previous year. Advances shall be paid on 15 February, 15 May and 15 August; they must not exceed 25 % of the total sum fixed for the party concerned for the preceding year. If there are signs that a party might be obliged to reimburse funds, the grant may be made dependent on a security deposit.
(2) Applications for advances must be submitted in writing to the President of the German Bundestag by the 15th of the preceding month. Applications received after that date shall not be considered. Applications may be submitted for several advances for the year at the same time.
(3) Advances must be reimbursed if they exceed the amount fixed or if a party has no entitlement to them.
(4) Article 19 (8) shall apply as appropriate.
Article 21
Provision of Federal Government Funds and Payment Procedure
(1) The funds provided for in Articles 18 and 20 shall in the case of Article 19 (8), sentence 1, be disbursed to the parties by the Laender, in other cases by the Federal Government through the President of the German Bundestag. The President of the German Bundestag shall bindingly inform the Laender of the amounts accruing to the Land branches of the parties.
(2) The Federal Audit Office shall examine whether the President of the German Bundestag as the agency administering the funds has fixed the volume of the state funds and disbursed them in accordance with the provisions of this Section.
Article 22
Internal Financial Compensation
The parties' national branches shall make adequate arrangements for the adequate financial compensation of their Land branches.
Section V
Rendering of Account
Article 23
Obligation to Render A Public Statement of Account
(1) The executive committee of the party shall render public account of the origin and appropriation of funds received by the party within a calendar year (accounting year) as well as of its assets in a statement of account.
(2) The statement of account must be scrutinized by a certified auditor or auditing company in accordance with Articles 29 to 31. In the case of parties which do not meet the requirements of Article 18 (4), sentence 1, the statement of account may be scrutinized by a sworn public accountant. It must be submitted to the President of the German Bundestag by 30 September of the year following the accounting year and circulated by him or her as a Bundestag printed paper. The President of the German Bundestag may extend the limit up to a maximum of three months in extenuating circumstances. The party statement of account shall be submitted for discussion to the next national party convention following its publication.
(3) The President of the German Bundestag shall examine whether the statement of account has been prepared in accordance with the regulations of Section V. The result of the scrutiny shall be recorded in the report specified in Paragraph 5.
(4) The President of the German Bundestag shall not fix the volume of state funds to be allocated to a party under Articles 18 and 19 until a statement of account complying with the provisions of Section V has been submitted. The decisive basis for payments as defined in Article 18 shall be the statement of account for the preceding year, for payments as defined in Article 20 the statement of account submitted the preceding year. A party that fails to submit the report by 31 December of the following year shall forfeit its entitlement to state funds; the amounts fixed and disbursed to the other parties shall remain unaffected.
(5) The President of the German Bundestag shall report to the German Bundestag each year on the trend in the financial situation of the parties and the party statements of account. The report shall be circulated as a Bundestag printed paper.
Article 23a
Illegally Obtained Donations
(1) A party which obtains donations illegally or fail to publicize them in the statement of account in accordance with the regulations of this Law (Article 25 (2)) shall forfeit its entitlement to state funds equivalent to twice the amount of money illegally obtained or not publicized in accordance with the provisions of this Law. Donations obtained illegally must be surrendered to the Office of the President of the German Bundestag.
(2) Donations as defined in Article 25 (1), sentence 2, shall be regarded as illegally obtained if they have not been immediately transferred to the Office of the President of the German Bundestag, in contravention of Article 25 (3).
(3) The Office of the President of the German Bundestag shall, at the beginning of each calendar year, transfer the funds received within a calendar year to institutions serving charitable, church, religious or scientific purposes.
(4) The political parties shall incorporate in their statutes regulations to cover the event of measures as defined in Paragraph 1 being caused by Land branches or their subordinate regional branches.
Article 24
Statement of Account
(1) The statement of account shall comprise a bill of receipts and expenditure and an account of assets. It shall be drawn up in accordance with the principles of proper bookkeeping and with due regard to the purposes of this Law. The statement of account of the whole party shall incorporate separate accounts for the party's national branch and the Land branches as well as statements of account of the subordinate regional branches of each Land branch. Land branches and their subordinate regional branches shall attach to their statements of account a complete list of all donations received, together with the names and addresses of the donors. The Land branches shall keep the statements of account of their subordinate regional branches together with their own accounting documents.
(2) The bill of income shall include:
1. Membership fees and similar regular contributions
2. Donations from natural persons
3. Donations from legal entities
4. Income from assets
5. Income from organized events, distribution of printed material and publications and other activities associated with income
6. State funds
7. Other income
8. Grants from party branches
9. Gross receipts from items 1 to 8.
(3) The bill of expenditures shall include:
1. Personnel expenditure
2. Business expenditure
3. Expenditure for general political work
4. Expenditure for election campaigns
5. Interest
6. Other expenditure
7. Grants to party branches
8. Gross expenditure from items 1 to 7.
(4) The statement of assets shall comprise:
1. Property assets
I. Capital assets:
1. Property in the form of houses and real estate
2. Office equipment
3. Financial investments
II. Working capital:
1. Claims on party branches
2. Claims on state funds
3. Monetary assets
4. Other assets
III. All property
2. Debits:
I. Reserve funds:
1. Pension obligations
2. other reserve funds
II. Liabilities
1. Liabilities towards party branches
2. Liabilities towards banking institutions
3. Other liabilities III.
Gross debit
3. Net assets (positive or negative)
(5) The statement of account must show the total amount of bestowals made by natural persons up to 6,000 German marks per person as well as the total amount of bestowals made by natural persons which exceed the amount of 6,000 German marks separately.
(6) The statement of account shall be preceded by a summary covering the following items:
1. Income of the whole party in accordance with Paragraph 2, nos. 1 to 7, and their total
2. Expenditure of the whole party in accordance with Paragraph 3, nos. 1 to 6, and their total
3. Surplus or deficit
4. Items of possession of the whole party in accordance with Paragraph 4, nos. 1 I and II 2 to 4 and their total
5. Debit items of the whole party in accordance with Paragraph 4 nos. 2 I and II 2 and 3 and their total
6. Net assets of the whole party (positive or negative)
7. Gross receipts, gross expenditures, surpluses or deficits as well as net assets of the three organizational levels - national branch, Land branches and their subordinate regional branches.
In addition to the absolute figures for nos. 1 and 2, the percentage rate of the income sum pursuant to no. 1 and of the expenditure sum pursuant to no. 2 respectively must be indicated.
(7) The number of members at the end of the year must be indicated.
(8) The party may attach brief explanations to the statement of account, especially to specific items.
(9) Public grants appropriated for political youth organizations shall not count towards the absolute and relative upper limits. They must be indicated in a party's statement of account for information purposes but shall not be included in its bill of income and expenditure.
Article 25
Donations
(1) Parties are entitled to accept donations. Exceptions to this rule are:
1. Donations from political foundations, parliamentary factions and groups
2. Donations from incorporated bodies, associations of individuals and funds which, under the statutes, the foundation charter or other rules and regulations and by virtue of the actual business are intended exclusively and directly for non-profit, charitable or church purposes (Paragraphs. 51 to 68 of the Tax Code)
3. Donations from outside the area of application of this Law unless
a) these donations accrue to a party directly from the assets of a German citizen as defined by the Basic Law, a citizen of the European Union or from a business enterprise more than 50 per cent of whose shares are owned by Germans as defined by the Basic Law;
b) they are donations to parties of national minorities in their ancestral country which are granted to them from states bordering on the Federal Republic of Germany and in which members of their ethnic community live, or
c) they are donations of no more than 1,000 German marks from an alien.
4. Donations from professional organizations which were bestowed on them with the proviso that they be transferred to a political party
5. Donations which each exceed 1,000 German marks and whose donors cannot be determined, or donations from an anonymous third party which are evidently transferred
6. Donations clearly made in the expectation of a specific economic or political advantage.
(2) Donations of more than a total of 20,000 German marks in a calendar year (accounting year) to a party or to one or more of its regional branches must be recorded in the statement of account, together with the names and addresses of the donors and the total amount of the donations.
(3) The party shall transfer impermissible donations as defined in Paragraph 1, sentence 2, to the Office of the President of the German Bundestag immediately.
Article 26
Definition of Income
(1) Income is any monetary payment made to the political party unless special stipulations apply to specific types of income (Article 24 (2)). Exemption from customary obligations and from the assumption of responsibility by others for events and measures with which explicit canvassing is done for a political party shall likewise be considered income.
(2) All income shall be entered to their full in their appropriate places. Article 27 (2) shall remain unaffected.
(3) Non-monetary assets shall be assessed at the prices normally paid in the ordinary course of business for identical or comparable services.
(4) Party work done by citizens shall as a matter of principle be unpaid work. Payments in kind and services provided by party members on a non-commercial basis and usually free of charge shall not be counted as income. The reimbursement of costs and expenses shall remain unaffected.
(5) Transitory items of money and services as well as membership fees and other income appropriated from the outset for quota allocation among several regional branches shall be booked at the branch which will ultimately receive them.
Article 27
Individual Types of Income
(1) Membership fees shall only be regular payments a member pays by virtue of statutory provisions. Donations shall be payments exceeding the aforementioned contributions, in particular admission fees, special assessments and collections as well as monetary bestow-als of all kinds unless they are usually made free of charge on a non-commercial basis.
(2) The net profit must be entered for the sources of income specified in Article 24 (2), nos. 4 and 5. The requirement to disclose income in the accounts pursuant to Article 24 (2), nos. 2 and 3 and Paragraph (5) shall remain unaffected. Other income as defined in Article 24 (2), no. 7 must be broken down and provided with explanatory notes whenever it exceeds 5 per cent of the total income from nos. 1 to 6 in one of the breakdowns shown under Article 24 (1).
(3) The bill of income may disregard payments in kind and services which the party members usually provide free of charge on a non-commercial basis which do not exceed a value of 1,000 German marks in each individual case. Sentence 1 shall apply as appropriate to the organization of canvassing events and measures.
Article 28
Compulsory Bookkeeping
Political parties must keep accounts of income and expenditure which are liable to account as well as of their assets. The accounts shall be drawn up in accordance with the principles of proper bookkeeping and with regard to the purposes of this Law. The accounting documents must be stored for six years; account books, balance sheets and statements of account for ten years. The period of storage shall commence at the end of the accounting year.
Article 29
Audit of the Statement of Account
(1) The audit specified Article 23 (2), sentence 1 and Paragraph 3 shall apply to the party's national branch, its Land branches and to at least four subordinate regional branches chosen by the auditor.
(2) The auditor may require the executive committee and the persons authorized by them to furnish any information and evidence he may need to perform his auditing duty with due care. He must therefore also be allowed to examine the documents used to compile the statement of account, the books and written documents as well as the cash balance and existing assets.
(3) The executive committee of the regional branch to be audited shall provide the audi-tor written assurance that all the receipts which are liable to account, expenditure and assets are included in the statement of account. Reference may be made to the assurance provided by the executive committees of subordinate regional branches. It is sufficient for the executive committee member responsible for financial affairs to provide this assurance.
Article 30
Audit Report and Auditor's Certificate
(1) The result of the audit must be set out in writing in an audit report which must be delivered to the executive committee of the party and to the executive committee of the audited regional branch.
(2) If no objections are to be lodged after the final result of the audit, the auditor must confirm by means of a certificate that, after a dutiful audit and on the basis of the party's account books and documents as well as the information and evidence furnished by the executive committees, the statement of account as audited (Article 29 (1)) complies with the provisions of this Law. If objections are to be lodged, the auditor must refuse to provide this confirmation in its auditor's certificate or modify it accordingly. The names of the regional branches audited must be stated in the auditor's certificate.
(3) The auditor's certificate must be attached to the statement of account to be submitted and published verbatim in accordance with Article 23 (2), sentence 2.
Article 31
Auditor
(1) A person appointed as auditor must not be a member of the executive committee, a member of a general party committee, an appointed accountant or employee of the party to be audited or of one of its regional branches or have been such during the last three years prior to his appointment.
(2) The auditors, their assistants and the legal representatives of an auditing company participating in the audit are obliged to discharge their duties in a conscientious and impartial manner and to exercise discretion. Article 168 of the Corporation Act shall apply as appropriate.
Section VI
Implementation of the Ban on Unconstitutional Parties
Article 32
Enforcement
(1) Where a party or a branch of a party has been declared unconstitutional pursuant to Article 21 (2) of the Basic Law, the appropriate authorities appointed by the Land governments shall adopt within the law any measures needed to enforce the judgment as well as any additional enforcement procedures ordered by the Federal Constitutional Court. To this end, the supreme Land authorities shall have the unrestricted right to give instructions to the Land authorities and agencies which are responsible for public safety or order.
(2) Where the organization or activities of the party or of the party branch declared to be unconstitutional extend beyond the territory of a Land, the Federal Minister of the Interior shall issue the orders necessary to ensure uniform enforcement.
(3) The Federal Constitutional Court may order the enforcement to be carried out in accordance with Article 35 of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court, notwithstanding Paragraphs (1) and (2).
(4) Objections to and action to set aside enforcement measures shall have no suspensive effect on the enforcement. Where the proceedings of an administrative court pertain to a matter which is of fundamental importance for the enforcement of a judgment, the proceedings shall be discontinued and a Federal Constitutional Court decision obtained. The Federal Constitutional Court shall also decide upon objections raised against the manner in which special enforcement measures ordered by the Court are to be carried out.
(5) In the event of a confiscation of assets, Articles 10 to 13 of the Law on Associations of 5 August 1964 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 593) shall apply as appropriate. The authority imposing the ban shall be the supreme Land authority or, if Paragraph (2) applies, the Federal Minister of the Interior.
Article 33
Ban on Substitute Organizations
(1) There shall be a ban on the establishment of organizations which continue to pursue the unconstitutional aims of a party banned under Article 21 (2) of the Basic Law in connection with Article 46 of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court in lieu of the said banned party (substitute organization) or to continue existing organizations as substitute organizations.
(2) Where the substitute organization is a party which already existed prior to the ban on the original party or where it is represented in the Bundestag or a Landtag, the Federal Constitutional Court shall declare by judgment that it is a substitute organization; Articles 38, 41, 43, 44 and 46 (3) of the Law on the Federal Constitutional Court and Article 32 of the present Law shall apply as appropriate.
(3) Article 8 (2) of the Law on Associations shall be applied as appropriate to other parties and organizations which, within the meaning of Article 2 of the Law on Associations, constitute substitute organizations of a banned party.
Section VII
Final Provisions
Article 34
(Amendment to Income Tax Law)
Article 35
(Amendment to Corporate Tax Law)
Article 36
(Application of Tax Regulations)
Article 37
Non-Applicability of Civil Code Provisions
Article 54, sentence 2 of the Civil Code shall not apply to political parties.
Article 38
Means of Coercion Available to the Federal Returning Officer
The Federal Returning Officer may prompt the executive committee of the party to take the action specified in Article 6 (3) by means of a compulsory payment. The provisions of the Administration Enforcement Law shall apply as appropriate; the Federal Returning Officer therefore acts as an enforcement authority. The compulsory payment shall be no less than 500 German marks and no more than 3,000 German marks.
Article 39
Provisions Concerning Final Payments
(1) The reimbursement of election campaign costs as well as the equal opportunity payments provided for under the Law on Political Parties in the version effective until 31 December 1993 and in accordance with the European Electoral Law in the version effective until 31 December 1993 shall be done as follows:
1. Parties and other political associations as well as list associations which, by virtue of their election results at the last European, Bundestag or Landtag elections have received advances under Article 28 of the European Electoral Law hitherto effective, Article 20 of the Law on Political Parties or pursuant to Land regulations within the framework of the hitherto effective Article 22 of the Law on Political Parties shall receive final payments on application. The final payments must be calculated in such a way that, together with the advances, they do not amount to more than 25 per cent of the last election campaign refund fixed in a four-year electoral period for each year of the current electoral period until 31 December 1993 and no more than a 20 per cent refund in a five-year electoral period; the proportion attributable to the basic sum specified in the hitherto applicable Article 18 (6) of the Law on Political Parties shall not be taken into consideration. Payments received over and above the limit resulting from this shall be repaid. Electoral periods be-ginning in 1993 shall not be considered.
2. The equal opportunity program must be conducted for the last time for 1993.
3. Applications for final payments must be submitted to the President of the German Bundestag by 30 September 1994; applications received after that date shall not be taken into consideration. The final payments shall be made four weeks after receipt of applications.
4. The final payments to all parties shall be reduced in proportion to the amounts to which they are entitled if, together with the election campaign refunds already granted from 1991 to 1993, they exceed the sum of 690 million German marks.
5. The basis for the limitation of election campaign refunds provided for under the current version of Article 18 (7) of the Law on Political Parties shall be the years 1990 to 1992. Any payments received over and above the resulting limit shall be repaid. The repayments shall be made to the Federal State and the Laender in proportion to their actual payments.
6. Numbers 1 and 3 to 5 shall not apply to list associations within the meaning of Article 2 of the Tenth Law of Amendment to the Federal Electoral Law of 8 October 1990 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 2141), amended by the Law of 21 July 1993 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1217, 1594).
7. Final and equal opportunity payments shall not be counted towards the absolute upper limit (Article 18 (2) in connection with Article 19 (6)).
8. The final payments on the basis of advances for Land elections shall be made by the Laender to the Land branches of the parties, otherwise by the Federal State through the President of the German Bundestag to the parties. Article 21 shall apply as appropriate.
(2) Land legislative provisions on the basis of the hitherto effective Article 22, sentence 1 of the Law on Political Parties shall no longer apply.
Article 40
Transitional Provisions
(1) The following shall apply to the fixing of state funds for 1994:
1. The calculation pursuant to Article 18 (3), no. 3 in connection with Article 19 (3) shall be based on 60 per cent of the average amount resulting from membership fees and donations as indicated in the statements of account for 1991 and 1992.
2. The average amount of income achieved by the party itself by good management and indicated in the statements of account for 1991 and 1992 shall be taken as the basis for fixing the relative upper limit specified under Article 18 (5).
3. In order to fix the advances specified under Article 20, number 1 shall apply as appropriate.
4. For the disbursement of state funds for 1994, a statement of account which meets the requirements of the Law in the version effective until 31 December 1993 shall suffice.
(2) Notwithstanding Article 24 (1), sentence 4, the statements of account for 1994 to 1997 need not contain the names and addresses of bestowers of bestowals of up to 200 German marks if an assurance is provided that the bestowals per bestower do not exceed the limits of tax deductibility.
Article 41
(Entry into Force)