Where can information about granted licences be found?

Latest Update: September 2023

Register of licences

Legal base

In Germany, the Federal State in question only grants the right to explore and extract free-to-mine natural resources. The right of disposal over a free-to-mine natural resource is designated as the right to mine, which can be requested from the mining authorities of the Federal States (see Approval of mining project)

Pursuant to § 75 of the BBergG (German Federal Mining Act), the mining authorities keep mining authorisation books and mining maps, in which newly- granted mining rights are entered (pursuant to the BBergG) or “Old Rights and Contracts” are maintained pursuant to § 149 of the BBergG.
Public inspection of these mining authorisation books and mining maps was initiated within the framework of the implementation of the D-EITI. Since 21 July 2017 and pursuant to § 76 (3) of the BBergG, the following information on granted and maintained mining rights can be viewed upon application to the mining authorities (without evidence of a legitimate interest):
  • Owner
  • Extraction sites to which the mining right refers
  • Date of the application and granting of the right
  • Term
  • Natural resource(s) to which the mining right refers

Permits and authorisations for mining exploration can also be inspected as a result of the legal amendment (see Approval of mining projects)

The competent authorities may also make this infor- mation directly accessible to the public, and this has already been taking place for some time now in many Federal States. In this way, several Federal States publish a transparent online licence cadastre (i.e. land registration). Other Federal States are also planning to set up similar systems.

All hydrocarbon-segment mining licences in Germany can also be viewed in the annual publication “Erdöl und Erdgas in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland” (Crude oil and natural gas in the Federal Republic of Germany).

You can find an overview of all mining rights at:
view data

Example of an online system: the NiBiS map server

One good example of the publication of information on mining rights on the Internet is the NIBIS map server of the Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG). On this website, citizens can obtain information about 400 specialist maps on topics such as contaminated sites, mining, soil science, erosion, geology, geothermal energy, geophysics, hydrogeology, geologic engineering, climate and natural resources. With regard to mining rights, the NIBIS regularly makes the following data available for viewing by the public on the map server for the Federal States of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein:

  • Information about the licence holder
  • Coordinates of the licensed area
  • Date the licence was granted and term of the licence.
  • Type of natural resource

Mining rights in the NiBiS map server

Implementation in other Federal States

Other Federal States have also created online sites for inspecting the mining authorisation book and mining map. Examples of this are Baden-Württemberg at https://maps.lgrb-bw.de/, Berlin and Brandenburg at http:// www.geo.brandenburg.de/lbgr/bergbau, North Rhine-Westphalia at https://www.geoportal.nrw/ or Saarland at www.geoportal.saarland.de. Anyone in Thuringia can inspect the digital mining authorisations books and mining maps upon written request (e.g. by online request via the TLUBN homepage contact page).

REGISTER OF LICENCES

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Glossar

In Federal States in which legislation does not include an excavation law and the State-level Nature Conservation Law does not apply to the extraction of non-energetic, ground-based natural resources in the context of dry excavations, this type of natural resource extraction falls within the scope of the relevant state building regulations.

Legal limitations also exist: State building regulations apply to the excavation of solid rock (limestone, basalt, etc.), for example, in quarries with an area of up to 10 hectares (ha) in which no blasting is carried out. In the event that this area is exceeded, or if water bodies are formed after completion of the extraction operations, the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and/or Water Resources Act (WHG) are applicable.
In Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, the above-ground excavation of non-energetic, ground-based natural resources in the context of dry excavations is determined at state level by the existing excavation laws (AbgrG). For the excavation of solid rock (limestone, basalt, etc.) in quarries where blasting does not occur, the AbgrG applies to sites with an area of up to 10 ha. In the event that this area is exceeded, or if water bodies are formed after completion of the extraction operations, the German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) and/or Water Resources Act (WHG) are applicable. In the other Federal States, this type of natural resources extraction is regulated by the respective state building regulations or by the state-level nature conservation laws.

In general, the AbgrG applies to those raw materials the excavation of which is not directly subject to mining law or the mining authorities. These raw materials include (in particular) gravel, sand, clay, loam, limestone, dolomite and other rocks, bog mud and clays. However, the jurisdiction between AbgrG and mining law can vary from case to case in the case of certain raw materials, such as quartz gravels. The requested authority must always verify its own jurisdiction in each case. The AbgrG also encompasses surface area usage and the subsequent rehabilitation of the area.
The German Federal Immission Control Act (BImSchG) is the most important and practice-relevant law in the field of environmental law. It constitutes the basis for the approval of industrial and commercial installations. In the natural resources extraction industry, quarrying companies must have approval to extract stones and earth. Every quarrying area of 10 hectares or more must undergo a full approval procedure, including public participation and UVP (environmental impact assessment). A more simplified approval procedure is used for quarrying areas of less than 10 hectares.

The sphere of responsibility for the legal immission control approval procedure is fully specified in the Immission Control Acts of the Federal States. The Federal States are tasked with the administrative enforcement of the approval procedure. Each individual state’s Environment Ministry – the highest local immission protection authority – usually bears the responsibility for this procedure. Subordinate authorities include regional councils, district authorities and lower-level administrative authorities. Administrative jurisdiction generally lies with the lower-level administrative authorities.
The GDP measures the value of goods and services produced domestically (creation of value) within a given period (quarter, year). The Federal Office of Statistics calculates the GDP as follows: production value minus intermediate consumption = the gross value added; plus taxes on products and minus subsidies = GDP
The gross value added is calculated by deducting intermediate consumption from the production values, so it only includes the value added created during the production process. The gross value added is valued at manufacturing prices, i.e. without the taxes due (product taxes), but including the product subsidies received.

During the transition from gross value added (at manufacturing prices) to GDP, the net taxes (product taxes less product subsidies) are added globally to arrive at an assessment of the GDP at market prices’. Source: Destatis
The planning approval procedure under mining law is used for the approval procedure of a general operating plan for projects which require an environmental impact assessment (§§ 52(2a), in conjunction with 57 a of the BBergG).
There are different definitions and methodological approaches at the international as well as at the national level as to what subsidies are and how they are calculated. According to the definition of the German government’s subsidy report, this report considers federal subsidies for private companies and economic sectors (ie grants as cash payments and tax breaks as special tax exemptions) which are relevant to the budget. Subsidies at the federal level can be viewed via the subsidy reports of the federal states (see Appendix 5 of the German government subsidy report).
In compliance with § 68(1), Water Resources Act (WHG), the excavation of landowners’ natural resources such as gravel, sand, marl, clay, loam, peat and stone in wet extraction operations requires a planning approval procedure. The reason for this is that groundwater is exposed in wet extraction, resulting in above-ground water. The planning approval procedure is implemented by lower-level water authorities.

The procedural steps of the planning approval procedure are governed by the general provisions of §§ 72 to 78 of the Administrative Procedures Act (VerwVfG). Within the meaning of § 68(3), nos. 1 and 2 of the WHG, the plan may only be established or approved if an impairment of the common good is not to be expected and other requirements of the WHG as well as other public-law provisions are fulfilled.