German criminal trials at the regional and higher regional courts are not recorded. The judge takes notes, and the official record is formal. It does not contain what witnesses said word for word. On November 17, 2023, the Bundestag passed a law to record such trials on audio and create automatic transcripts. The law went to the mediation committee of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. In April 2024 it was still there. The states argued that the existing practice had proved itself.