Asset Disposals
Q24
100/100
How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?
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There is a clear policy or regulatory process, and there is an internal unit responsible for advising or overseeing procedures, e.g., internal audits. There…
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Planned disposals are known in advance and are published publicly on the website of the Federal Real Estate Office (Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben) before a…
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The financial results of disposals are regularly publicly available and are disaggregated. The income from sales is listed in the Federal Budget [1], in…
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Q25
100/100
Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?
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Independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals is carried out by the Federal Audit Office, as this is the external body responsible for the…
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Neither the executive nor the military exert undue influence over the scrutiny carried out by the audit body regarding asset disposals. The Federal Audit…
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Comprehensive audit reports are available to the public [1]. For example, the revenues from asset disposal can be found in the annual budget of…
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Secret Budgets
Q26
0/100
What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?
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The ‘closed budget’ for the ‘Military Counterintelligence Service’ (‘Militärischer Abschirmdienst’) amounts to EUR 9,014,000 in the current fiscal year 2020. This information can be…
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Q27
100/100
Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?
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The appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature are provided with extensive information on all spending on secret items, which includes detailed, line-item…
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Q28
100/100
Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?
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The Federal Audit Office acts as an external supervisory body and evaluates all accounts of the security sector on a regular basis. The Federal…
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Parliament or the appropriate committee regularly requires documentation or testimony from the military and/or intelligence services regarding the findings of the audit report. It…
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Q29
100/100
In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?
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Off-budget expenditures are not permitted by law [1]. All military expenditure is incorporated in the Federal Budget, specifically in the budget of the Ministry…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable as there is no expenditure outside of the defence budget [1,2]. In case of unforeseen events such as…
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Off-budget military expenditures are not permitted by law and are very rare (see Einzelplan 14) [1,2].
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Q30
50/100
Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?
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The German Freedom of Information Act (IFG) [1] is considered relatively weak with regard to the request and appeals procedure, but more notably with…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. German state secrecy is primarily regulated through the ‘Security Clearance Act’ (‘Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschrift zum…
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The German Freedom of Information Act grants immediate access. According to Section 16 of the ‘Security Clearance Act’ (‘Verschlusssachenanweisung’), the classification of information marked…
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Q31
88/100
Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?
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The annual ‘Beteiligungsbericht’ (‘Equity Holdings Report’) discloses the German government’s financial participation in commercial business, including the commercial activity and beneficial ownership of the…
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All or most ownership of commercial businesses is publicly declared. The ‘Beteiligungsbericht’ includes the shareholder structure, the company purpose, the annual accounts as well…
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Military-owned Businesses
Q32
63/100
Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?
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Military-owned businesses are subject to independent scrutiny by private audit companies according to international standards as well as by the Federal Audit Office, which…
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Audit details are available to the public. The combined findings are published in the annual ‘Beteiligungsbericht’ [1]. Legislative scrutiny is regulated by Article 69…
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Illegal Private Enterprise
Q33
100/100
Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?
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The government strictly outlaws any unauthorised private enterprise, with appropriate sanctions in place to deal with offenders. In accordance with Article 20 of the…
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The possibility of the notification/approval obligations not being fulfilled in individual cases, or of a secondary activity being carried out despite refusal or contrary…
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Actual Military Spending
Q77
88/100
Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?
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The actual spending on defence and security is proactively published in detailed, disaggregated form and accompanied by clear explanations for both experts and non-experts…
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The majority of actual defence spending is fully disclosed. Although some exceptions are made for legitimate sensitive areas, there is clear and robust oversight…
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Yes, the Federal Ministry of Finance generally publishes the Federal Budget statement in the first half of the year following the closed budget [1].…
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The discrepancies between the budget’s target rates and the actual spending are shown in the Federal Budget accounts under each title. However, variances between…
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