The Powers of the Federal States : Germany

The Basic Law determined the powers of the Federation in terms of whether laws should be the same for all states or whether the states should be allowed to make their own laws. This is illustrated by the fact that the Federation’s law-making powers fall into three different categories: exclusive, concurrent or framework legislation.

Areas of legislation which fall within the exclusive purview of the Federation are foreign affairs, defense, monetary matters, air transport and some elements of taxation.

‘n the case of concurrent legislation, the states may only Pass laws on matters not covered by federal law. The Federation may only legislate in such cases where it ’s necessary to have a uniform law for the whole country. The areas which fall into this category are civil and criminal law, commercial law, nuclear energy, labor and land law, the law concerning aliens, housing, shipping, road transport, refuse disposal, air pollution and noise abatement. Since it has proved necessary to have standard laws for these matters, the states have more or less ceased to have any jurisdiction in these areas.