November 5, 2015 – On November 4, 2015, the German Federal Cabinet has approved of a ministerial draft of the amendment of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage presented by Monika Grütters, Commissioner of the Federal Government for Culture and Media.
According to German legislative procedure, the Federal Council is now given six weeks’ time to deliver an opinion. Afterwards, the draft bill will be presented to the President of the German Federal Parliament who will then hand the text, as a printed paper, to all parliament members.
It is common procedure that three readings of a bill are held in the Plenary Assembly. As for controversial texts, during the first reading the Council of Elders has the right to appoint one or more experts committees. These committees develop amendments of the draft bill for the text to be capable of winning a majority. It is only after the third reading that a vote will be cast on the draft bill which means, in effect, that the struggle over a modification of the wording of the bill is not over yet.
Please find the current draft bill, written in German, here.
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Only recently Munich-based lawyer Joachim Walser has given a detailed legal opinion. The German text can be read here.