Germany — Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz — the verified record, live

The Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG), in force since May 2024, is Germany's national implementing law for the EU Digital Services Act. It designates the Bundesnetzagentur as Germany's Digital Services Coordinator, hosting an independent Koordinierungsstelle für digitale Dienste that supervises intermediaries established in Germany, handles user complaints, certifies out-of-court dispute settlement bodies and trusted flaggers, and cooperates with the European Commission on very large platforms. Specific competences are shared: the Bundeszentrale für Kinder- und Jugendmedienschutz for protection-of-minors matters and the federal data protection authority for certain advertising and profiling provisions. The DDG also swept away much of Germany's earlier national platform law, repealing the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG) and the Telemediengesetz, whose surviving general provisions it absorbed. It sets the national fining framework and preserves German law's familiar Impressum-style provider identification duties. For services operating in Germany, the DDG defines who the regulator actually is, how complaints and enforcement proceed domestically, and how legacy German obligations map onto the DSA era.

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as of 2026-08-31 · refreshed from scheduled releases

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Frequently asked

Who is Germany's Digital Services Coordinator?

The Bundesnetzagentur, the federal network agency, acting through an independent Koordinierungsstelle für digitale Dienste established by the DDG. It supervises providers within Germany's competence, receives DSA complaints, certifies dispute resolution bodies and trusted flaggers, and represents Germany in the European Board for Digital Services. The BzKJ handles minors' protection aspects and the federal data protection commissioner certain data-related provisions.

What happened to the NetzDG?

The DDG repealed the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, Germany's 2017 network enforcement law requiring rapid removal of unlawful content by large social networks, because the Digital Services Act now occupies that field with fully harmonised EU rules. Its functions — notice-and-action, complaint handling, transparency reporting — continue in DSA form, supervised by the Digital Services Coordinator rather than the Federal Office of Justice.

What are the penalties under the DDG?

The DDG sets the German fining framework for DSA breaches within national competence: administrative fines that can reach up to 6% of annual worldwide turnover for the most serious infringements by providers, with lower percentage caps for information and procedural failures, mirroring the DSA's ceilings. Fines against very large platforms for their systemic duties remain a matter for the European Commission.

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