Registers & Databases: Law and regulation

EUR-Lex is an official platform of the European Union and provides access to all EU regulations. The service is offered in 24 languages. In addition to access to legal acts and international agreements, the service also provides a collection of EU case law. 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) refers to the European Union Regulation 2016/679. It is intended to standardize data protection across the EU. The regulation is available in 24 languages ​​as HTML and PDF versions. A service of the European Union.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) offers a free global search engine for intellectual property, such as designs, trademarks and other protected rights. WIPO data search is available in English, Spanish and French, among others.

The European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN) offers numerous tools for searching for patents, trademark protection and designs on its platform. The extensive range includes online tools such as trademark research tools, trademark classification tools, research tools for Community designs and assessments of the similarity of goods and services. The platform is multilingual and free.

Trademarks from all official trademark offices participating at (inter)national and European Union level. The web tool TMview is available in over 30 languages. A service of the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN).

Here you'll find translated online versions of most of the Federal Republic of Germany's law books, regulations, and codifications. These are available in English. You can search for individual paragraphs, full text, and keywords.

Anyone placing packaged goods (or shipping materials) on the German market must register with the Packaging Register and provide data on packaging quantities, participate in the system, and conclude a service contract. The complete product catalog provides a good overview of which products, with their respective system numbers, are subject to mandatory reporting and should comply with the regulations of other EU countries. Packaging types are also listed here, and system participation requirements are confirmed or excluded for each product. A service provided by the Central Office Packaging Register (ZVR), Germany.

The EU directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement, written in English, can be viewed here. The corresponding syntax has been used as a basis since 2014.

Here you will find a complete overview of free sources of court decisions from the legal system of the Federal Republic of Germany. Some sources are available in English.

Case law database. Provider is the German Federal Labor Court in Erfurt, Germany. Site is in English.

Decisions and rulings of the German Federal Social Court can also be researched. The Social Court itself provides a corresponding service. Site is in English.

In this register information, the German Trademark & ​​Patent Office provides the option of searching for already registered trademarks and other protective rights, such as registered designs or utility models. The search mask has a quick search by term or detailed information. It is free to use and in English.

This European Commission database provides access to chamber decisions of the EU courts. The court decisions are freely accessible. Not all summaries are available in all languages.