Last Updated on May 29, 2021 by LawEuro
Members of the Bundestag Act (Laws / Regulations of Germany)
Part Four
Benefits for Members of the Bundestag
Section 11
Members’ remuneration
(1) A Member of the Bundestag shall receive a monthly remuneration based on the monthly income of a judge of the highest federal courts (salary group R6, as defined in Annex IV of the Federal Pay Act (Bundesbesoldungsgesetz), with the supplement for judges and public prosecutors of the highest federal courts). A Member’s remuneration shall be 10,083.47 euros. The procedure prescribed in subsections (4) and (5) below shall apply to subsequent adjustments.
(2) The President of the Bundestag shall receive a monthly supplementary allowance of one month’s salary as specified in subsection (1) above, his or her deputies shall receive a monthly supplementary allowance amounting to half of the monthly salary specified in subsection (1) above, and the chairpersons of committees, committees of inquiry, study commissions and the Parliamentary Oversight Panel shall receive a monthly supplementary allowance corresponding to 15 per cent of the monthly amount specified in subsection (1) above.
(3) The amount of a Member’s remuneration and of the supplementary allowance shall be reduced by one three-hundred and sixty-fifth on account of grants towards the cost of nursing care awarded under section 27 of this Act from 1 January 1995.
(4) The monthly remuneration specified in subsection (1) above shall be adjusted annually on 1 July. The basis shall be the development of the index of nominal earnings computed by the Federal Statistical Office, which the President of the Federal Statistical Office shall transmit to the President of the Bundestag by 31 March of each year. The latter shall publish the adjusted amount of remuneration in a Bundestag printed paper.
(5) The adjustment procedure prescribed by subsection (4) above shall continue to apply in a new electoral term only if the Bundestag adopts a decision to that effect within three months following the constituent sitting. If no decision is taken within that time, the last amount computed in accordance with subsection (4) above shall apply to Members’ remuneration until the Bundestag confirms or amends the adjustment procedure in a law.
Section 12
Members’ allowances
(1) To cover costs incurred in connection with the exercise of his or her parliamentary mandate, a Member of the Bundestag shall receive various compensatory allowances. These shall comprise monetary allowances and benefits in kind.
(2) A Member of the Bundestag shall receive a monthly expense allowance to cover, in particular,
1. office expenses for the establishment and upkeep of a constituency office outside the seat of the German Bundestag, including rent and utility and service charges, stock and office materials, literature and other communication media and postage,
2. additional expenditure incurred at the seat of the Bundestag and travel expenses, excluding the cost of official trips abroad,
3. travel costs for trips in connection with the exercise of his or her mandate within the Federal Republic of Germany, without prejudice to the provisions of sections 16 and 17 of this Act, and
4. additional expenses for other costs incurred in connection with the exercise of a parliamentary mandate (representative functions, invitations, constituency work, etc.) which are not otherwise defrayable from the professional remuneration and allowances paid to cover the cost of living.
The expense allowance shall be adjusted each year on 1 January in line with the increase in the general cost of living of all households in the previous year. Details of the amount of the estimates for the individual flat-rate allowance, based on actual expenditure, and the amount of the adjustment shall be governed by the Budget Act (Haushaltsgesetz) and by implementing provisions which shall be enacted by the Council of Elders (Ältestenrat).
(3) On submission of evidence, a Member of the Bundestag shall receive reimbursement for employing staff to assist him or her in carrying out his or her parliamentary work. Entitlement to this reimbursement is not transferable to another Member of the Bundestag. Reimbursement of expenditure in respect of employment contracts concluded with staff who are or were married or related by blood or marriage to the Member of the Bundestag is not permissible. The same shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to employment contracts concluded with the civil partner or former civil partner of a Member of the Bundestag. Details of the reimbursable amount of expenditure and the conditions of reimbursement, the mandatory minimum requirements for the employment contract and other matters shall be governed by the Budget Act and the implementing provisions to be enacted by the Council of Elders. Salaries and other staff expenditure shall be paid by the Bundestag Administration. The Bundestag shall not be liable to third parties. The staff shall not be public servants. No contractual relationship shall exist between the staff and the Bundestag Administration.
(4) Members’ allowances shall also include:
1. the provision of a fully equipped office at the seat of the Bundestag,
2. the use of transport facilities in accordance with section 16 of this Act,
3. the use of official Bundestag vehicles,
4. the provision and use of the common information and communication system of the Bundestag, and
5. other Bundestag services.
Details shall be regulated by the Budget Act and by implementing provisions which shall be enacted by the Council of Elders.
(5) The President of the Bundestag shall receive a monthly official expense allowance of 1,023 euros, and his or her deputies shall receive a monthly official expense allowance of 307 euros.
(6) A Member of the Bundestag who has the exclusive use of an official car shall receive an expense allowance reduced by 25 per cent.
Section 13
Non-entitlement to reimbursement of expenses
A Member of the Bundestag elected to the Bundestag in the last quarter of the last year of an electoral term shall not have a right to benefits under section 12(2) and (3) of this Act if the Bundestag has already completed its work.
Section 14
Reduction of the expense allowance
(1) An attendance register shall be displayed on each sitting day. The President shall determine, in consultation with the Council of Elders, which days count as sitting days and the time during which the attendance register is to be displayed. If a Member of the Bundestag does not enter his or her name in the register, 100 euros shall be deducted from his or her expense allowance. The amount of the reduction shall be increased to 200 euros if a Member who has not been granted leave of absence fails to enter his or her name in the attendance register on the day of a plenary sitting. The amount of the deduction shall be reduced to 20 euros if a Member of the Bundestag presents a medical certificate attesting to a stay in hospital or in a sanatorium or to temporary incapacitation. During the period of maternity protection in the event of pregnancy or if a Member of the Bundestag has a child under the age of 14 living in his or her household who is certified ill by a doctor and for whom the Member must care personally because no other responsible person is available in the household to do so, the Member’s failure to enter his or her name in the attendance register shall not result in a reduction of the expense allowance. From the time when the attendance register is displayed, performance of the duties of President or Secretary, a minuted request to speak at a sitting of the German Bundestag, the use of a personal voting card in a recorded vote, participation in a roll-call vote, entry in the attendance register of a committee or other body of the Bundestag, interventions at a meeting of a committee or other body of the Bundestag, entry in the attendance register of the Council of Elders or participation in an approved official trip on the day of the sitting shall count as entry in the attendance register.
(2) A Member of the Bundestag who fails to cast a vote by voting card or roll-call shall have 100 euros deducted from his or her monthly expense allowance. This shall not apply if the President has granted the Member leave of absence, if a deduction is made under subsection (1) above or in the circumstances described in the sixth sentence of subsection (1) above.
Section 15
Receipt of other per diem or attendance allowances
If a Member of the Bundestag receives a per diem or attendance allowance from other public funds on the same day that he or she has entered his or her name on the Bundestag attendance register, 20 euros or the amount of the attendance allowance paid out of the other public funds, whichever is the lesser, shall be deducted from his or her monthly expense allowance. The same shall apply to official trips abroad which fall on the day of a sitting.
Section 16
Right to free use of public transport and reimbursement of travel costs
(1) A Member of the Bundestag shall have the right to free use of all transport facilities of the rail operator Deutsche Bahn AG. If, in the exercise of his or her mandate in the Federal Republic of Germany, a Member uses internal flights, sleeping-cars or other forms of rail transport beyond the scope of local public transport networks, the cost shall be reimbursed up to the highest class on production of receipts.
(2) For the duration of his or her entitlement to free travel, a Member of the Bundestag may not accept reimbursement of travel costs for domestic trips with Deutsche Bahn AG from any other source. The same shall apply to domestic travel undertaken as part of a trip abroad and to expenditure on flights and sleeping-cars where such expenditure is reimbursed under subsection (1) above.
Section 17
Official trips
(1) Official trips shall require the prior approval of the President.
(2) In the case of domestic trips, daily subsistence expenses shall be deemed to have been reimbursed through the expense allowance. By virtue of the application, mutatis mutandis, of the Federal Travel Expenses Act (Bundesreisekostengesetz), however, a Member of the Bundestag shall receive, on request, an overnight accommodation allowance as well as the reimbursement of his or her travel expenses. If a Member of the Bundestag proves that he or she has incurred an unusual level of expenditure, which cannot be covered by the overnight accommodation allowance, the unavoidable excess shall be reimbursed.
(3) In the case of official trips abroad, a Member shall receive, on request, per diem and overnight accommodation allowances. In addition, the following shall also be reimbursed:
– in the case of rail travel, the cost of return travel from the federal border to the destination, as well as the cost of a sleeping car, on production of receipts;
– in the case or air travel, the attested cost of travel to and from the destination;
– the cost of necessary travel by other means of transport.
(4) On application, in the cases referred to in subsections (2) and (3) above, a mileage payment shall be awarded in lieu of travel costs. It must not exceed the amount of expenditure which would have been reimbursable for travel by air under section 16(1) or section 17(3) of this Act. The amount of the mileage payment shall be determined by the Council of Elders.
(5) In all other respects, the provisions of the Federal Travel Expenses Act, as amended, shall apply, mutatis mutandis, unless otherwise determined by the Council of Elders.
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