In the German civil service, a permanent position is a Planstelle, a plan post. It is a post provided for in the budget plan. Section 49 of the Federal Budget Code is short: Ein Amt darf nur zusammen mit der Einweisung in eine besetzbare Planstelle verliehen werden. (An office may be conferred only together with assignment to an available plan post.) A civil servant who is promoted can be placed in the new plan post with retroactive effect of at most three months.