Who is responsible? Laws and responsibilities of public authorities

In Germany, the extraction of natural resources is for example regulated by the Federal Mining Act (BBergG), which replaced the old mining law of the Federal States as well as numerous ancillary mining laws in 1982. The BBergG is complemented by various regulations on mining law matters. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is responsible for mining law within the Federal Government. The mining authorities of the Federal States (see figure 1) implement the law and are responsible for approving and supervising mining activities, depending on the mineral resources. For certain natural resources not covered by the BBergG, some federal states have adopted their own regulations for these landowners’ natural resources in the so-called Excavation Law of the federal states.

With regard to their legal regulation, a distinction is made between three groups of natural resources in Germany (see figure 2):

• Free-to-mine natural resources are not the property of the landowner. The exploration and extraction of these mineral resources is subject to the BBergG and requires a two-stage application procedure: in the first step, the granting of a mining licence (public-law concession) and in the second step, the site-specific approval via the operating plan procedure, in each case by the competent mining authority of the affected federal state.
• Privately-owned natural resources are owned by the landowner and are subject to mining law (see Section 2(1) number 1 BBergG). The exploration and extraction of these mineral resources do not require a mining license, however they require approval in the operating plan procedure by the competent mining authorities of the affected federal state.
• Landowners’ natural resources are all natural resources that are not free-to-mine or privately-owned and are owned by the landowner. They are not subject to mining law and are therefore not supervised by the mining inspection authorities. Instead, the approval procedures with regard to the landowners’ natural resources are carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) or in accordance with provisions of state law (e.g. Excavation Laws, Water or Building Law, Nature Conservation Law).

Depending on the federal state, natural resource and type of extraction, middle and lower-management levels of governmental bodies are responsible for the latter group of landowners’ natural resources.

Overview of the mining authorities of the Federal States

Baden-Wuerttemberg

Ministry of Environment Climate and Energy

District President Freiburg, State Office for Geology, Mineral Resources and Mining

Bavaria

State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy

Government of Upper Bavaria,Mining Office of Southern Bavaria

District Government of Upper Franconia, Mining Office of Northern Bavaria

Berlin​

Senate Administration for Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry

State Office for Mining, Geology and Natural Resources, Brandenburg

Brandenburg

Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Energy

State Office for Mining, Geology and Natural Resources, Brandenburg

Bremen

Senator for Economic Affairs, Ports and Transformation

State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Hanover

Hamburg

Authority for Economic Affairs and Innovation

State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Hanover

Hesse

Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Viticulture, Forestry, Hunting and Homeland

Regional Council of Darmstadt Occupational Safety and Environment Dpt. Wiesbaden, Regional Council of Gießen,Department IV “Environment”, GießenRegional Council of Kassel,Department III “Environmental Protection”

Lower Saxony

Ministry of Economy, Transport, Construction and Digitalisation

State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Hanover

North-Rhine Westphalia

Ministry of Economy, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy

Arnsberg District Government Department of Mining and Energy in North-Rhine Westphalia

Rhineland-Palatinate

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transport, Agriculture and Viticulture

State Office for Geology and Mining

Saarland​

Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digital Affairs and Energy

Upper Mining Office of the Saarland Mining Office of Saarbrücken

Saxony

State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport

Saxon Chief Mining Authority

Saxony-Anhalt

Ministry of Economy, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt

State Office for Geology and Mining of Saxony-Anhalt 

Schleswig-Holstein

Ministry of Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature

State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology Hanover

Thuringia

Ministry of Environment, Energy, Nature Conservation, and Forestry

Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation