The fastest building permit is the one that does not need to be applied for. To ease the burden on companies and authorities, the German federal and state governments have decided to "completely exempt cases of minor importance from approval requirements". The list of so-called non-procedural building projects is extensive. Therefore, we compared only buildings, the special exception of attic conversions, and the exception for mobile phone masts. 

This shows that just about half of the federal states have raised the threshold values of the Model Building Code (buildings in inner areas up to 10 m²). Lower Saxony is particularly progressive here, with a threshold for buildings up to 75 m³ of space in inner areas and up to 40 m³ in outer areas. Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Saxony permit procedural attic expansion including dormers and loggias. In most federal states, this still requires an exemption procedure including all building documents. Mobile phone masts have been exempted nationwide in almost all federal states when they are up to 15 meters on buildings, up to 20 meters in outer areas, or mobile for a maximum of 24 months. In North Rhine-Westphalia, this is even possible for masts 20 meters above buildings or for mobile installations for up to 48 months at one location.  

In the so-called simplified approval procedure, parts of the building application (specifically the building regulations) are not reviewed by the authorities. The federal government and states have therefore decided to expand the use of the simplified approval procedure. However, the extensive applicability of the procedure for all projects except special constructions, as already envisaged in the Model Building Code, has only been implemented by 9 of the 16 federal states so far. Seven states limit the application to residential buildings or certain building classes.

Despite statutory deadlines for approval decisions, procedures in practice take significantly longer. To ensure that exceeding the deadline does not go without consequences, the Model Building Code and many state building regulations stipulate that approval is considered granted if the authority has not rejected the application by the end of the deadline. The states had decided to introduce 'a nationwide uniform implicit approval period of three months.'

For various stages of the approval process, deadlines are set. This includes, in particular, the decision deadline starting from the completeness of the building application, the timeframe within which the authority must confirm the completeness of the application documents or request additional documents. Deadlines for responses are also given to participating authorities or other bodies. The federal and state governments have agreed to implement "appropriate deadline reductions" which vary greatly depending on the procedure and the federal state. The Model Building Code and some state building codes only specify deadlines for the simplified approval process. In contrast, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, and Hamburg impose much shorter deadlines of just a few weeks depending on the procedure.

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To prevent the need to repeatedly submit new documentation and evaluations for facilities of the same type or within the same systems, type approval exists. It will increasingly be applied, for example, in modular construction. To ensure manufacturers of these systems do not need to submit applications in each federal state separately, the states have agreed on the mutual recognition of approvals. Although this has essentially been established across all federal states, some states require additional confirmations or recognitions by their authorities or restrict recognition, for example, to barrier-free designs. 

Damit die Baugenehmigung schnell und leichter erfolgen kann, fordern Unternehmen seit vielen Jahren eine lückenlose Ende-zu-Ende-Digitalisierung der Baugenehmigung. Das bedeutet, dass nicht nur die Anträge digital versandt werden können, sondern auch die Bearbeitung, Beteiligung, Ergänzung und Bescheinigung zentral und digital erfolgen. Wie weit dieser Prozess in den Bundesländern bereits implementiert wurde, kann dieser Monitor leider nicht abbilden. Auch die Bauordnungen müssen die Digitalisierung durch die Befreiung vom Schriftformerfordernis ermöglichen. Baden-Württemberg und Niedersachsen schreien die rein elektronische Kommunikation hier bereits explizit vor.