Federal modernisation agenda: federal and state governments agree on measures to modernise the state

2026 is set to be defined by plans for state modernisation. In October 2025, the federal government established a modernisation agenda focusing primarily on digitalisation and reducing bureaucracy. During a subsequent meeting in December 2025, the federal government and the Conference of State Premiers (comprised of the 16 heads of government of the federal states) agreed on a comprehensive Federal Modernisation Agenda.This initiative marks the beginning of far-reaching reforms to modernise Germany’s public administration and state structures. The Federal Modernisation Agenda centres on five key themes: reducing bureaucracy, accelerating procedures, strengthening the efficiency, resilience and effectiveness of government structures, promoting digital processes and enhancing legislative quality. In total, the agenda comprises more than 200 individual measures, each generally accompanied by a specific implementation timeframe. The modernisation measures that are particularly important for businesses and public authorities are briefly presented here.

Reducing bureaucracy and simplifying administrative procedures

Reporting obligations for businesses are to be reduced by at least one third, thereby cutting bureaucratic costs across the economy by 25%. As a first step, by 30 June 2026 at the latest, the reporting requirements under the German Environmental Statistics Act (Umweltstatistikgesetz) will be reduced and standardised, while the information requirements under the German Building Statistics Act (Hochbaustatistikgesetz) will be restricted. Public authorities’ reporting duties are also to undergo review. The federal and state governments intend to critically review all existing reporting obligations for the public authorities by 31 December 2026, with the aim of abolishing at least half of them.

Documentation requirements for companies are also to be reduced by at least half. The receipt requirement is being abolished. The amount of documentation required as part of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the immission control approval procedure is to be reduced with the help of an administrative guidance instrument. In particular, authorities are to be allowed in future to refer to other documents and will no longer have to paraphrase their contents. Storage obligations are to be reduced and digitalised. The digital storage of annual financial statements in accordance with the German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung) and the German Commercial Code (Handelsgesetzbuch) is to be made possible by 30 June 2027. The federal and state governments also intend to reduce documentation requirements. Posting and display requirements for accident prevention regulations and other laws are to be replaced by information that is relevant to specific situations and needs.

In addition, official inspections and internal submission and reporting requirements are to be reduced and replaced by risk-based approaches. At the same time, the federal and state governments intend to tighten penalties for statutory infringements.

A key measure in reducing bureaucracy is the planned abolition of the “wet ink” requirement for documents, i.e. the need for a physical, handwritten signature. In future, a digital or otherwise legible record (known in German as “Textform”) will be sufficient, even without a handwritten signature. The federal and state governments have committed to allowing the use of ordinary e-mails for business communications between citizens and public authorities, including for the notification of formal administrative decisions. By 31 December 2026, a new provision is to be inserted into the administrative procedure laws of the federal and state governments, allowing the “wet ink” requirement to be met electronically without the need for the previously complex electronic form requirements (qualified electronic signature, electronic mailbox, De-Mail, etc.).

In addition, significantly fewer official certifications are to be required in administrative procedures, particularly if there is no requirement for notarisation. Public notices, which have so far been issued primarily by posting on the local court notice board, will in future be possible via the website of the competent court. Electronic publication is to become standard practice for statutory instruments, by-laws and other local regulations.

Fundamental changes to deemed approval, appeal procedures and official investigations

General administrative procedural law offers considerable potential for simplification and acceleration. To harness this potential, the federal and state governments are planning to reduce obligations in administrative procedures and introduce structural changes to the German Administrative Procedure Act (Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz).

The fiction of deemed approval is to become the rule rather than the exception in administrative proceedings. Under section 42a of the federal and state Administrative Procedure Acts, an application for approval will be deemed to have been granted upon expiry of the decision period if this is provided for by law and the application is sufficiently specific. By 31 December 2027, legislation is to be introduced stipulating that, unless otherwise provided in the special legislation governing the particular type of approval in question, a licence will be deemed to have been granted three months after submission of the complete documentation. As an immediate measure, deemed approval for the repowering of wind turbines is to be introduced by 30 June 2026.

Through an additional completeness fiction under which applications will be deemed to be complete, the deemed approval rule will be strengthened in suitable cases. The planned three‑month period for processing the licence application will begin as soon as the application is received, irrespective of whether the documentation is complete. The federal and state governments have agreed to introduce such a provision by 30 June 2026, in particular for temporary licences, the establishment of construction sites outside motorways and permits for the special use of roads and paths.

In future, the administrative objection procedure is to become the exception rather than the rule. Accordingly, an objection procedure will only be required before bringing an action for annulment or an action to compel the authority to act where this is expressly provided for by law. This model is already largely in place in states such as North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria and is to apply throughout the Federal Republic of Germany from 31 December 2027.

Certain approval requirements are to be replaced by notification procedures by 31 December 2026, for example in the case of minor construction works (such as house connection pipes). Projects on properties used for military purposes will be exempt from procedural requirements. Following the model of the existing deemed‑approval fiction, a general provision is also to be included in the federal and state Administrative Procedure Acts, under which an approval procedure is replaced by a notification procedure where this is provided for in specific legal provisions. This is intended to create an incentive to use notification procedures instead of approval procedures under the special legislation governing the particular type of authorisation in question. The provision is to be linked to a legal fiction of completeness regarding the submitted documentation.

In addition, de minimis exceptions are to be used more frequently. By 31 December 2026, the principle of informal administrative proceedings is to be supplemented by a provision for cases of minor importance, such as application procedures involving amounts of up to €600. In such cases, the authority may act at its reasonable discretion without complying with all formal procedural steps, such as hearing the person concerned or involving other authorities. In practice, this will probably make it easier above all to issue decisions refusing applications.

Finally, the principle requiring an authority to investigate and establish the relevant facts of a case on its own initiative (principle of ex officio investigation) in administrative proceedings is to be modified. As a rule, the authority establishes the facts of the case on its own initiative. In approval and licensing procedures in which third parties raise objections, however, the authority’s investigations will in future to be limited to objections put forward by third parties in sufficiently specific terms and to facts already known to the authority. In line with this approach, any such limitation on the scope of the authority’s review would also have to be reflected at the level of judicial review.

Infrastructure modernisation through faster planning and approval

By accelerating planning and licensing procedures, the federal and state governments aim to drive forward infrastructure modernisation. To this end, the Federal Cabinet presented a draft for an Infrastructure Future Act (Infrastruktur-Zukunftsgesetz) in mid-December 2025.

Under the draft, replacement construction on federal motorways, federal roads, state and national roads, federal railways, federal waterways, energy transmission lines, dams and flood and coastal protection installations is, as a rule, to be carried out without formal planning approval procedures or EIAs. The existing exemption of bridge structures from the EIA requirement is to be extended. For other replacement construction, a provision modelled on section 6b of the German Wind Energy on Land Act (Windenergieflächenbedarfsgesetz) is to be introduced by 31 December 2026. Under that provision, in designated acceleration areas for onshore wind farms, the licensing authority will dispense with an EIA and instead review environmental impacts on the basis of existing data.

A simplified planning approval procedure will become the standard procedure for infrastructure projects, with the formal plan approval procedure reserved for major projects only. In addition, the federal and state governments intend to reduce the requirements for EIAs, primarily by raising the thresholds for projects subject to an EIA obligation, suspending the EIA preliminary examination for modification permits and streamlining the review process by limiting public participation, including for EIA‑mandated projects. Higher thresholds for EIA‑mandated projects that apply in Germany’s immediate neighbouring countries are to be adopted in order to eliminate competitive disadvantages. Where neighbouring countries apply higher thresholds for EIA‑mandated projects, or no EIA obligation at all, Annex 1 to the German Environmental Impact Assessment Act (Gesetz über die Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung) is to be adjusted accordingly.

The federal and state governments also plan to simplify and improve the rules on nature, environmental and species protection. The need for species protection surveys is to be reduced; once a certain minimum distance is respected, planning projects under urban land‑use planning and plan‑approval law will in future be able to proceed on the basis that the risk of killing or injuring specimens using the breeding site is not significantly increased. Once again, the model for this is a provision from the approval procedure for onshore wind turbines (section 45b of the German Federal Nature Conservation Act (Bundesnaturschutzgesetz)). The federal and state governments intend to introduce comparable rules for other areas of nature conservation, in particular habitat protection.

In addition, numerous simplifications are planned in urban land‑use planning law, ranging from the complete digitalisation of formal development plan procedures in urban land‑use planning and the streamlining of environmental assessments through to the introduction of an “experimental clause” in the Federal Land Use Regulation (Baunutzungsverordnung). It is noteworthy that in future, disputes about permits for installations that generate renewable energy will go directly to the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht), which will then act as both the court of first instance and the final instance. Geothermal plants, heat pumps and heat storage facilities, as well as certain energy storage facilities, CCS/CCU plants and pipelines, will be recognised as being in the overriding public interest by 30 June 2026 at the latest.

An efficient, resilient and effective state

To increase efficiency, the federal and state governments intend to pool the administrative services for which they are responsible at either federal or state level, where this offers significant advantages and is constitutionally permissible. Such consolidation may also take the form of centrally providing the IT infrastructure required for implementation on the ground. In particular, the data‑protection supervisory structures are to be consolidated by 31 December 2027 at the latest.

Overall, the federal and state governments want to work together more and better, for example by setting up a “work-and-stay” agency to promote labour migration and immigration for training and study purposes, and by enabling “start‑ups in 24 hours”.

The body of general legal and administrative rules governing public grants and subsidies based on the budgetary rules of the federal and state governments is to be significantly simplified by 31 December 2026. The general obligation to submit proof of use is to be abolished, and indirect personnel expenses are to be funded in future by way of standard flat-rate percentages. Funding guidelines are to be harmonised between the federal government and the states.

To increase the resilience of government structures, the federal and state governments have decided to establish and expand capacities in the area of active cyber defence measures. The federal government is to be given the power to lay down uniform rules for digital processes and standards and to set up and operate IT systems for use by the federal states. For this purpose, the constitutional basis for cooperation between the federal and state governments in the field of information technology systems in Article 91c of the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz) is to be reformed.

The strategic provisioning and preparedness laws applicable in the event of an emergency are to be updated as quickly as possible to meet military requirements. In view of new NATO agreements, these laws are intended to ensure not only the supply of the German Armed Forces, but also the supply of allied armed forces and the necessary stockpiling for this purpose.

The resilience of the public authorities is to be continuously increased through regular simulation exercises in the form of stress tests for various crisis scenarios.

Digitalisation of public authorities

The federal and state governments want to further digitalise public authorities. The basis for this is to be an open, secure and scalable IT infrastructure.

To this end, the federal government plans to build what is known as the “Germany Stack” (“D‑Stack”) as a national sovereign technology platform for digital projects in Germany. The aim is to create a digital ecosystem with elements whose use by the federal and state governments will be partly mandatory and partly optional, and which will offer opportunities for participation by business, civil society and academia. The relevant standards are to be established by 31 December 2026. The EUDI Wallet, announced as a digital wallet for EU citizens, is to be integrated into the D-Stack platform.

The federal government intends to create a legal basis for the use of artificial intelligence by public authorities in their administrative work. The model is section 35a of the German Administrative Procedure Act (Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz), which allows a formal administrative decision to be issued fully automatically if this is authorised by a legal provision and if the decision does not involve any administrative discretion or margin of assessment.

In order to achieve fully digital administrative procedures (from filing the application to receiving the decision) without any media breaks, a single, standardised service account is to be introduced as the gateway to digital public services. Digital processes in public administration are to be subject to uniform federal standards in future. To avoid multiple data collection, the once-only principle is to apply to the collection of private data. Under this principle, authorities are required, with the consent of the data subject, to retrieve existing data automatically and as a priority from the primary source.

Modernising the legislative process

The legislative process is to become more focussed on actual results. To this end, the federal and state governments have agreed on a number of principles. These include giving greater weight to the early conceptual phase of legislation, so that practitioners can be involved at an early stage and the need for regulatory intervention can be examined carefully. Laws are to be designed so that they are practical to apply and suitable for digital implementation. EU law is to be implemented with minimal administrative burden. In addition, experimental clauses are to be incorporated, and impact objectives and success indicators are to be established. A standard period of four weeks will apply to participation in the legislative process from 1 July 2026.

The “Law as Code” project is to be tested and used in the legislative process. Under this approach, statutory instruments will no longer be published only as legal text, but also as machine‑readable code. The official legal code will make it easier to process legal provisions digitally and can significantly speed up fully digital administrative procedures.

In civil courts, experimental clauses and regulatory sandboxes are to be introduced. The German Code of Civil Procedure (Zivilprozessordnung) will be supplemented by a new part titled “Testing and evaluation”. Trials of the online procedure in civil courts are set to begin this year. According to the plans of the federal and state governments, further potential fields of application for regulatory sandboxes include construction and planning law, mobility and transport law, energy law and environmental and nature conservation law.

The Federal Regulatory Sandbox Act (Reallabore-Gesetz des Bundes) is to be adopted in the near future.

Conclusion and outlook

The federal and state governments’ modernisation agenda is ambitious and clearly focused on implementation. Most of its areas of action and objectives are already familiar from the federal government’s modernisation agenda. Unlike that agenda, however, the Federal Modernisation Agenda sets out specific individual measures that are intended to contribute to the modernisation of Germany. The Federal Modernisation Agenda is therefore, to a certain extent, the necessary state‑level specification and implementation of the federal government’s Modernisation Agenda within the federal system laid down in the Basic Law.

Quite a few of the proposed measures promise to significantly simplify and accelerate administrative procedures, which businesses and public authorities will be able to use to their advantage. Implementation of the modernisation measures is generally tied to fixed time frames. An initial report on progress is to be presented at the meeting between the federal chancellor and the heads of the federal states on 25 June 2026. This illustrates the claim that the Federal Modernisation Agenda is only the first step towards the planned modernisation of the state.