The Federal Government is working on a federal modernisation agenda. The bdla has analysed the current 74-page catalogue of measures – which has so far been circulated only within the ministry – and identified the points relevant to our profession.
Under the title “For a fast, digital and effective Germany”, the Federal Government has presented a modernisation agenda for the state and public administration. The Bundesrat debated the agenda in mid-October and subsequently referred it to the Committee on Digital Affairs and State Modernisation, which is responsible for the matter. It is due to be adopted at the Conference of Minister-Presidents as early as 4 December 2025. In parallel, a catalogue of measures for federal modernisation is currently circulating, based on five key themes: Less bureaucracy, faster procedures, efficient, resilient and high-performing state structures, digital procedures and good law-making. Consequently, the legal framework for planning and construction, amongst other areas, is to be amended in the short term.
The bdla welcomes the intended pace of reform, but also emphasises in political discussions that other important aspects must not be overlooked. “‘Faster’ is shaping the agenda – and that’s a good thing! Streamlined procedures are helpful for landscape architecture practices. But the challenges posed by the climate and biodiversity crisis must also remain on the political agenda,” says bdla Federal Managing Director Mario Kahl.
Key measures relevant to the practice of landscape architecture and planning:
• Greater use of real-world laboratories by the federal and state governments, and the implementation of these in building and planning law, mobility and transport law, energy law, and environmental and nature conservation law through the use of trial clauses. To this end, the federal ‘Real-World Laboratories and Experimentation Act’ should be passed as soon as possible.
• Removal of all references to external technical standards in federal and state legislation by 30 June 2026. Furthermore, the federal and state governments should commit to simplifying building regulations with the aim of enabling stakeholders to deviate from generally accepted technical rules more easily and with legal certainty. To support this initiative, the states should streamline their building regulations framework. The introduction of an ‘innovation clause’ should make it easier to implement cost-saving and experimental solutions in construction projects.
• Providing incentives to make use of discretionary powers by reducing the risk of liability. The public use of waterways and forests, and the use of public facilities that are free of charge and do not require a permit (e.g. parks, playgrounds), is to be expressly regulated by law as taking place ‘at one’s own risk’. Liability for safety obligations is to be limited to gross negligence and wilful misconduct.
• A reduction in the number of planning permission and planning approval procedures, and the restriction of planning permission procedures from 1 January 2027 to cases where an environmental impact assessment is mandatory. In general, the rule-exception balance is to be reversed, thereby strengthening the presumption of approval until 31 December 2027: unless otherwise provided for by sector-specific legislation, approval is deemed to have been granted after three months – provided the documentation is complete. In addition, the federal government plans to launch a European initiative to speed up planning and approval processes by 30 June 2026.
• Simplification of environmental impact assessments through clear deadlines and type approvals by 31 December 2026. Furthermore, the Administrative Procedure Act (VfVfG) is to be amended to include a cut-off date provision for protected interests under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVPG).
• Amendment of the nature conservation legislation governing interventions by reducing the requirement for species protection reports until 31 December 2026, the reduction in the need for nature conservation compensation measures in relation to climate, environmental and climate adaptation measures as of 30 June 2026, and the restriction of requirements for maintenance measures for replacement buildings. The option of making compensation or replacement payments within the framework of urban land-use planning in certain cases until 30 June 2026 is to be introduced. In addition, the designation of compensation and replacement measures and the interconnection of compensation measures (biotope network) are to be simplified in a Nature Area Requirements Act by 30 June 2026.
• More efficient planning of grid expansion, including through the designation of priority areas in the land-use development plan. To this end, the swift implementation of the Renewable Energy Directive III (RED III) through various legislative initiatives (e.g. a legislative initiative to implement the EU Renewable Energy Directive in the areas of offshore wind energy and electricity grids, and a legislative initiative to accelerate the expansion of geothermal plants, heat pumps and heat storage systems)
• Extension of the overriding public interest to many motorways and federal roads included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan, as well as to all measures relating to the construction, modification or replacement of federal railways and waterways, in a Future Infrastructure Act by 31 December 2025.
The bdla will continue to monitor the process closely.
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