Early Scanning of Legislation

hbpa does not consider itself as a mediator for the positions of its clients only, but wishes to inform about and to display political issues likewise. For this purpose, we create and frequently update so called Issue Briefs. They display – in short abstracts – the backgrounds of the respective information as well as the process-status of law initiatives on Federal level, EU directives, and others.

Issue Brief No. 02/2009

Federal Data Protection Act to be amended

The German Bundestag is currently debating an amendment of the federal data protection act. The coalition government of Christian-Democrats and Social-Democrats aims to curb data abuse and to protect citizens from unwanted data trafficking, e.g. in connection with advertising activities. In view of the latest scandals of data abuse by leading German companies, which were covered quite extensively by the media, the amendment should now include an extra paragraph on protection of data privacy of employees. … more

Issue Brief No. 06/2008

Expansion of Minimum Wages

According to the governing coalition, minimum wages are supposed to be expanded to other branches. A coalition working group, which was established in June 2008, is currently debating about what other branches should be incorporated. The working group is led by the Federal Minister for Labour Olaf Scholz … more

Issue Brief No. 04/2008

Restrictions on Managerial Salaries

The Grand Coalition is currently working on a reform in order to limit the salaries of managers. Similar ambitions are being discussed on the EU-level … more

Issue Brief No. 03/2008

Sustainable Transport

The EU Commission plans to charge users of transport with the external costs of traffic. The Commission envisages a system which enables traffic experts all over Europe to precisely calculate external effects and to pass these costs on to the polluter … more

Issue brief No. 02/2008

Foreign Trade and Investment Act (AWG)

The Federal Government is planning to reform the Foreign Trade and Payments Act (AWG). The reform aims to facilitate the auditing of foreign investments in Germany … more

Issue brief No. 01/2008

Mobile charges to be cut

The EU Commission is planning to impose a cut of up to 70% on mobile operator charges for so-called termination rates, due for handling calls between networks. The planned cuts would put considerable pressure on Europe's mobile telephony providers. Just last year, the EU Commission pushed through a cap on roaming fees on international mobile phone calls … more