Germany: Compliance

The European Union's Cyber Resilience Act introduces mandatory cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements, with critical notification obligations taking effect in September 2026.

Die öffentliche Hand finanziert zunehmend soziale Leistungen durch Dritte, doch ein sozialer Zweck schließt staatliche Beihilfen nicht aus. Die neue EU-Guidance zeigt, wie Kommunen und öffentliche Unternehmen soziale Maßnahmen beihilfenrechtskonform gestalten können – von Wohnraum über Weiterbildung bis zur energetischen Sanierung.

Die Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) hat einen Konsultationsentwurf zu den umfassenden Änderungen im Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch durch das Fondsrisikobegrenzungsgesetz veröffentlicht. Welche neuen Anforderungen gelten für Geschäftsleiter von Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaften, und wie wirken sich die Regelungen zu MiFID-Dienstleistungen auf bestehende Erlaubnisse aus? Der Entwurf gewährt in vielen Bereichen Bestandsschutz für bereits etablierte Strukturen.

Germany's financial regulator BaFin has issued new supervisory guidance on virtual IBANs, addressing concerns about transparency in payment flows and beneficial ownership while affirming that vIBANs remain legitimate payment infrastructure. The communication requires firms to demonstrate that their governance, customer transparency and monitoring arrangements have kept pace with technological innovation, particularly in relation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls.

German employers face complex legal constraints when screening employee data or conducting workplace searches. This briefing explains how to lawfully navigate GDPR, telecommunications secrecy, and works council requirements while maintaining defensible evidence for internal investigations.

As sustainability criteria evolve from voluntary commitments into hard-edged determinants of corporate finance, companies seeking refinancing in distress situations must now present credible...

The European Central Bank has issued an urgent directive to major financial institutions requiring comprehensive action plans to counter rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats powered by frontier artificial intelligence models. With an October 2026 deadline looming, banks must demonstrate concrete measures across vulnerability management, monitoring capabilities, and third-party risk controls as AI-enabled attacks compress the timeline between threat discovery and exploitation. This supervisory escalation s

A European patent covering a method for monitoring textile manufacturing processes was revoked after appeal proceedings found that its distinguishing features lacked technical character. The Technical Board of Appeal examined whether data processing steps for predicting manufacturing parameters could contribute to inventive step when their subsequent technical use was not explicitly specified in the claims.

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled on the scope of EU sanctions prohibiting the broadcasting of content from listed Russian media outlets, addressing whether the term 'operator' extends beyond commercial entities to include donation-funded platforms and individuals. The judgment clarifies critical questions about personal liability under Regulation 833/2014 and the relevance of broadcast duration in determining compliance obligations.