Growth, innovation, and pace of change in Germany are stalling due to the endless planning and approval processes. This applies to the swift transformation of industries, nationwide broadband expansion, attractive urban developments, and sustainable transportation initiatives. The overwhelming regulations have left the country paralyzed. However, during the gas crisis, the German government demonstrated courage by overcoming significant bottlenecks with LNG terminals and exceptions for fuel switching, achieving record speed in some projects. This must serve as a blueprint for eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy!

The federal and state governments have committed through the "Acceleration Pact" to dismantle these roadblocks. Businesses require extensive exceptions, such as for investments in climate or environmental protection, eased requirements like shift from approval to notification obligations, binding timelines and deadlines for stakeholders, and random checks instead of blanket and time-intensive monitoring. Legislative actions must swiftly follow the announcement of this pact. A cultural shift in authorities is vital, aiming to facilitate projects rather than hindering them with risk aversion and excessive requirements.

Specific approaches include:

Fully implementing the Federal-State Pact

The comprehensive legal amendments decided in the Federal-State Pact for planning, approval, and implementation acceleration must be implemented without gaps. Provisions such as "where appropriate" or "as permitted under European law" must be removed to ensure all measures are applied across relevant laws for faster action.

Key acceleration measures include:

• Approval or consent by default: If an authority does not respond within a set deadline, approval or consent is considered granted
• Cut-off date rule: Decisions account for the status of documents at the time of submission completeness
• Facilitation of early construction starts: Companies can begin construction before final approval is obtained
• Shortened deadlines for planning and approval processes

The planning and approval durations in Germany must be reduced by more than half; otherwise, growth, innovation, and pace of change will remain bogged down by these endless procedures.

Context: The federal and state governments on November 6, 2023, as part of the "Germany Pact," agreed to over 60 legislative amendments to accelerate processes and measures for digitization and workforce improvements in administrations.

Reducing the scope of application documents

The government needs to eliminate approval and examination obligations for infrastructure, facilities, and building permits. Current measures mainly target processes and procedures; to expedite things practically, numerous unnecessary approval and examination duties must be abolished. Concrete steps include higher thresholds for minor projects that do not require permits, exemptions from reviews for facility changes, and replacing approval obligations with notification requirements. The volume of reports and documentation across all laws should also be simplified.

Ensuring consistent digitalization

Consistent digital participation must be enabled through a nationwide platform for applicants, authorities, and courts. Application documents, expert reports, and plans should be digitally accessible and editable throughout the process for all involved parties, including in legal cases. Specialist authorities can thereby work simultaneously. Trade and operating secrets must be fully protected. Data transfer should adopt open standards and interfaces while the public registers should be interconnected to implement the "Once only" principle: companies need not resupply data already held by the government multiple times.

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