The Federal Office of Justice goes to great efforts to ensure that all areas of this website conform with the provisions of national law implementing Directive (EU) 2016/2102 of the European Parliament and the Council and Sec. 12b of the Act on Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities (Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz – BGG) and to ensure the site is accessible to all users. The accessible design of the website is, to the greatest extent possible, compatible with the Accessibility in Information Technology Ordinance (Barrierefreie-Informationstechnik-Verordnung – BITV). This is based on an assessment carried out internally and was last updated on September 7, 2021.
The information on Accessibility was last checked on September 17, 2021.
Sign language
The Federal Office of Justice makes its services available in sign language. The videos in German sign language on our website explain our procedures to users, explaining how to find the information they need quickly, and how they can get in touch with us.
See videos in German sign language.
Simple language
The website also contains the information in simple language.
See information in simple german language.
Which parts of the website are not completely accessible?
The following parts of the websites have not been brought up to accessibility standards:
- Some of the videos do not have subtitles in time with the audio, or audio description.
- With some videos, there is no option to display a text description of the whole video.
- On some parts of the site, tables are used for layout purposes.
- Most of the content can only be viewed in either portrait or landscape and this cannot be changed.
- Some content may not be displayed correctly in certain browsers of a fixed width.
- The semantic distinction between different types of heading is not consistent throughout; some elemtent are incorrectly displayed as list elements.
- Form fields are not automatically filled in (no autofill).
- The JCAPTCHA at the bottom of the contact form cannot be seen or detected by all users.
- Some parts of the site have insufficient contrast.
- Not all non-text elements display an alt text.
- The keyboard cannot be used for navigation on all parts of the site; e.g. where forms contain user input errors, it is not always possible to use the keyboard to navigate to the next field displaying such an error.
- In some places, colour is the only element used to display meaning.
- Some older PDF files may not be usable in the PDF/Universal Accessibility format. We are constantly working to bring all PDFs available on our site up to this standard.
Feedback on Accessibility
If you have noticed anything on the website that makes it inaccessible to certain users, please get in touch with us by post or telephone:
Federal Office of Justice (Bundesamt für Justiz)
53094 Bonn
Germany
Phone: +49 228 99 410-40
Fax: +49 228 410 -5050
You can also get in touch with us using our contact form. Please select "Barrierefreiheit" as the subject. You can then submit your complaint in English in the input field below.
Go to contact form (German website)
Arbitration proceedings under the Act on Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities (Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz)
The Federal Government Commissioner for Matters relating to Persons with Disabilities hosts an Arbitration Service as per Sec. 16 Act on Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities. It is the task of the Arbitration Service to resolve conflicts which occur between individuals with disabilities and federal public authorities.
Such individuals can call on the Arbitration Service in the event that are not satisfied with the response they receive when using the above contact information. The point of arbitration is not to find a winner and a loser. Rather, the aim is to use the Arbitration Service to reach a mutually-acceptable solution to the problem without having to visit a courtroom.
Arbitration proceedings are conducted free of charge. You do not need to have a lawyer.
The website of the Arbitration Service under the Act on Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities has all the information you need on arbitration proceedings. There, you can find out how arbitration proceedings are conducted and how to make an application. You can make your application in simple language or German sign language.
You can contact the Arbitration Service under the Act on Equal Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities at the following address:
Schlichtungsstelle nach dem Behindertengleichstellungsgesetz bei dem Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für die Belange von Menschen mit Behinderungen
Mauerstraße 53
10117 Berlin
Germany
Telephone: +49 30 18 527-2805
Fax: +49 30 18 527-2901
E-Mail address: info
Website: www.schlichtungsstelle-bgg.de