Every Bill Must Name Its Problem

Bills from the German federal government open with a cover sheet in a fixed order. A bill from September 2026 is an example. Section A is Problem und Ziel, problem and goal. Section B is the solution and its benefit. Section C lists the alternatives. The sections that follow set out what the change will cost the budget, citizens and business. Since 2011, an independent council, the Nationaler Normenkontrollrat, has checked these compliance costs in every federal draft law. Since 2015, the government has followed a rule of one in, one out. A new burden on business must in principle be balanced by an equal relief somewhere else.

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