Transitional Provisions

Article 140 [Law of religious denominations]

The provisions of Articles 136, 137, 138, 139 and 141 of the German Constitution of 11 August 1919 shall be an integral part of this Basic Law.

Article 141 [“Bremen Clause”]

The first sentence of paragraph (3) of Article 7 shall not apply in any Land in which Land law otherwise provided on 1 January 1949.

Article 142

[Reservation in favour of basic rights in Land constitutions]

Notwithstanding Article 31, provisions of Land constitutions shall also remain in force insofar as they guarantee basic rights in conformity with Articles 1 to 18 of this Basic Law.

Article 142a (repealed)

Article 143 [Duration of derogations from the Basic Law]

(1) The law in the territory specified in Article 3 of the Unification Treaty may derogate from provisions of this Basic Law for a period extending no later than 31 December 1992 insofar and so long as disparate circumstances make full compliance impossible. Derogations may not violate paragraph (2) of Article 19 and must be compatible with the principles specified in paragraph (3) of Article 79.

(2) Derogations from Titles II, VIII, VIIIa, IX, X and XI shall be permissible for a period extending to no later than 31 December 1995.

(3) Independently of paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article, Article 41 of the Unification Treaty and the rules for its implementation shall also remain in effect insofar as they provide for the irreversibility of acts interfering with property rights in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty.

Article 143a [Exclusive legislative power concerning federal railways]

(1) The Federation shall have exclusive power to legislate with respect to all matters arising from the transformation of federal railways administered by the Federation into business enterprises. Paragraph (5) of Article 87e shall apply, mutatis mutandis. Civil servants employed by federal railways may be assigned by a law to render services to federal railways established under private law without prejudice to their legal status or the responsibility of their employer. (2) Laws enacted pursuant to paragraph (1) of this Article shall be executed by the Federation. (3) The Federation shall continue to be responsible for local passenger services of the former federal railways until 31 December 1995. The same shall apply to the corresponding functions of rail transport administration. Details shall be regulated by a federal law requiring the consent of the Bundesrat.

Article 143b [Transformation of the Deutsche Bundespost]

(1) The special trust Deutsche Bundespost shall be transformed into enterprises under private law in accordance with a federal law. The Federation shall have exclusive power to legislate with respect to all matters arising from this transformation.

(2) The exclusive rights of the Federation existing before the transformation may be transferred by a federal law for a transitional period to the enterprises that succeed to the Deutsche Bundespost Postdienst and to the Deutsche Bundespost Telekom. The Federation may not surrender its majority interest in the enterprise that succeeds to the Deutsche Bundespost Postdienst until at least five years after the law takes effect. To do so shall require a federal law with the consent of the Bundesrat.

(3) Federal civil servants employed by the Deutsche Bundespost shall be given positions in the private enterprises that succeed to it, without prejudice to their legal status or the responsibility of their employer. The enterprises shall exercise the employer’s authority. Details shall be regulated by a federal law.

Article 143c

[Compensation for the cessation of joint tasks]

(1) From 1 January 2007 until 31 December 2019, the Länder shall be entitled to receive annual payments from the federal budget as compensation for losing the Federation’s financial contributions resulting from the abolition of the joint tasks of extension and construction of institutions of higher education, including university hospitals and educational planning, as well as for losing financial assistance for the improvement of municipal traffic infrastructure and for the promotion of social housing. Until 31 December 2013, these amounts are to be determined by averaging the financial share of the Federation for the years 2000 to 2008.

(2) Until 31 December 2013, the payments pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be distributed among the Länder in the form of:

1. fixed annual payments the amounts of which shall be determined according to the average share of each Land during the period 2000 to 2003;

2. payments earmarked for the functional area of the former joint financing.

(3) Until the end of 2013, the Federation and the Länder shall review the extent to which the financing allotted to individual Länder pursuant to paragraph (1) is still appropriate and necessary for the discharge of their tasks. Beginning on 1 January 2014, the earmarking pursuant to item 2 of paragraph

(2) of the financial means allotted under paragraph (1) shall cease; the earmarking for the volume of the means for investment purposes shall remain unchanged. Agreements resulting from Solidarity Pact II shall remain unaffected.

(4) Details shall be regulated by a federal law which shall require the consent of the Bundesrat.

Article 143d [Transitional provisions relating to consolidation assistance]

(1) Articles 109 and 115 in the version in force until 31 July 2009 shall apply for the last time to the 2010 budget. Articles 109 and 115 in the version in force as from 1 August 2009 shall apply for the first time to the 2011 budget; debit authorisations existing on 31 December 2010 for special trusts already established shall remain unaffected. In the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2019, the Länder may, in accordance with their applicable legal regulations, derogate from the provisions of paragraph (3) of Article 109. The budgets of the Länder are to be planned in such a way that the 2020 budget fulfils the requirements of the fifth sentence of paragraph (3) of Article 109. In the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015, the Federation may derogate from the provisions of the second sentence of paragraph (2) of Article 115. The reduction of the existing deficits should begin with the 2011 budget. The annual budgets are to be planned in such a way that the 2016 budget satisfies the requirement of the second sentence of paragraph (2) of Article 115; details shall be regulated by federal law.

(2) As assistance for compliance with the provisions of paragraph (3) of Article 109 after 1 January 2020, the Länder of Berlin, Bremen, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein may receive, for the period 2011 to 2019, consolidation assistance from the federal budget in the global amount of 800 million euros annually. The respective amounts are 300 million euros for Bremen, 260 million euros for Saarland and 80 million euros each for Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein. The assistance payments shall be allocated on the basis of an administrative agreement under the terms of a federal law requiring the consent of the Bundesrat. These grants require a complete reduction of financial deficits by the end of 2020. The details, especially the annual steps to be taken to reduce financial deficits and the supervision of the reduction of financial deficits by the Stability Council, along with the consequences entailed in case of failure to carry out the step-by-step reduction, shall be regulated by a federal law requiring the consent of the Bundesrat and by an administrative agreement. Consolidation assistance shall not be granted concurrently with redevelopment assistance awarded on the grounds of an extreme budgetary emergency.

(3) The financial burden resulting from the granting of the consolidation assistance shall be borne equally by the Federation and the Länder, to be financed from their share of revenue from the turnover tax. Details shall be regulated by a federal law requiring the consent of the Bundesrat.

(4) As assistance for future autonomous compliance with the provisions of paragraph (3) of Article 109, the Länder of Bremen and Saarland may receive redevelopment assistance from the federal budget in the global amount of 800 million euros annually from 1 January 2020. To this end, the Länder shall adopt measures to reduce excessive debts and to strengthen their economic and financial capacity. Details shall be regulated by a federal law requiring the consent of the Bundesrat. This redevelopment assistance shall not be granted concurrently with redevelopment assistance awarded on the grounds of an extreme budgetary emergency.

Article 143e [Federal motorways, transformation of commissioned administration]

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of Article 90, the federal motorways shall be administered on federal commission by the Länder or such self-governing bodies as are competent under Land law until no later than 31 December 2020. The Federation shall regulate the transformation from commissioned administration to federal administration under paragraphs (2) and

(4) of Article 90 by means of a federal law requiring the consent of the Bundesrat.

(2) At the request of a Land, to be made by 31 December 2018, the Federation, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (2) of Article 90, shall assume administrative responsibility for the other federal trunk roads, insofar as they lie within the territory of that Land, with effect from 1 January 2021.

(3) By a federal law with the consent of the Bundesrat, it may be regulated that a Land, upon application, takes over, on commission of the Federation, the function of administering plan approval and planning permission for the construction and alteration of federal motorways and other federal trunk roads for which the Federation has assumed administrative responsibility under paragraph (4) of Article 90 or paragraph (2) of Article 143e and on what conditions this function may be transferred back.

Article 143f

[Financial relations within the federal system of government]

Article 143d, the Act regulating Revenue Sharing between the Federation and the Länder (Financial Equalisation Act) and other laws enacted on the basis of paragraph (2) of Article 107 as it stands from 1 January 2020 shall expire if, after 31 December 2030, the Federal Government, the Bundestag or at least three Länder acting jointly have requested negotiations on a restructuring of financial relations within the federal system of government and, when five years have elapsed since the Federal President was notified of the negotiation request made by the Federal Government, the Bundestag or the Länder, no statutory restructuring of financial relations within the federal system of government has entered into force. The expiry date shall be published in the Federal Law Gazette.

Article 143g

[Continued applicability of Article 107]

For the regulation of the distribution of tax revenue, of financial equalisation between Länder and of federal supplementary grants, Article 107 as it stood until the entry into force of the Basic Law Amendment Act of 13 July 2017 shall continue to be applied until 31 December 2019.

Article 144

[Ratification of the Basic Law – Berlin]

(1) This Basic Law shall require ratification by the parliaments of two thirds of the German Länder in which it is initially to apply.

(2) Insofar as the application of this Basic Law is subject to restrictions in any Land listed in Article 23 or in any part thereof, such Land or part thereof shall have the right to send representatives to the Bundestag in accordance with Article 38 and to the Bundesrat in accordance with Article 50.

Article 145

[Entry into force of the Basic Law]

(1) The Parliamentary Council, with the participation of the members for Greater Berlin, shall confirm the ratification of this Basic Law in public session and shall certify and promulgate it.

(2) This Basic Law shall take effect at the end of the day on which it is promulgated.

(3) It shall be published in the Federal Law Gazette.

Article 146

[Duration of the Basic Law]

This Basic Law, which, since the achievement of the unity and freedom of Germany, applies to the entire German people, shall cease to apply on the day on which a constitution freely adopted by the German people takes effect. Extracts from the German Constitution of 11 August 1919 (Weimar Constitution) Religion and Religious Societies

Article 136

(1) Civil and political rights and duties shall be neither dependent upon nor restricted by the exercise of religious freedom.

(2) Enjoyment of civil and political rights and eligibility for public office shall be independent of religious affiliation.

(3) No person shall be required to disclose his religious convictions. The authorities shall have the right to inquire into a person’s membership of a religious society only to the extent that rights or duties depend upon it or that a statistical survey mandated by a law so requires. (4) No person may be compelled to perform any religious act or ceremony, to participate in religious exercises or to take a religious form of oath.

Article 137

(1) There shall be no state church.

(2) The freedom to form religious societies shall be guaranteed. The union of religious societies within the territory of the Reich shall be subject to no restrictions.

(3) Religious societies shall regulate and administer their affairs independently within the limits of the law that applies to all. They shall confer their offices without the participation of the state or the civil community.

(4) Religious societies shall acquire legal capacity according to the general provisions of civil law.

(5) Religious societies shall remain corporations under public law insofar as they have enjoyed that status in the past. Other religious societies shall be granted the same rights upon application, if their constitution and the number of their members give assurance of their permanency. If two or more religious societies established under public law unite into a single organisation, it too shall be a corporation under public law.

(6) Religious societies that are corporations under public law shall be entitled to levy taxes on the basis of the civil taxation lists in accordance with Land law.

(7) Associations whose purpose is to foster a philosophical creed shall have the same status as religious societies.

(8) Such further regulation as may be required for the implementation of these provisions shall be a matter for Land legislation.

Article 138

(1) Rights of religious societies to public subsidies on the basis of a law, contract or special grant shall be redeemed by legislation of the Länder. The principles governing such redemption shall be established by the Reich.

(2) Property rights and other rights of religious societies or associations in their institutions, foundations and other assets intended for purposes of worship, education or charity shall be guaranteed.

Article 139

Sunday and holidays recognised by the state shall remain protected by law as days of rest from work and of spiritual improvement.

Article 141

To the extent that a need exists for religious services and pastoral work in the army, in hospitals, in prisons or in other public institutions, religious societies shall be permitted to provide them, but without compulsion of any kind.