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$Unique_ID{bob00199}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Unified Germany
Protocol on Guidelines}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Press and Information Office}
$Affiliation{German Embassy, Washington DC}
$Subject{republic
german
democratic
federal
germany
law
trade
treaty
economic
applied}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title: Unified Germany
Book: The Unity of Germany and Peace in Europe
Author: Press and Information Office
Affiliation: German Embassy, Washington DC
Date: 1990
Protocol on Guidelines
To supplement the Treaty establishing a Monetary, Economic and Social
Union, the High Contracting Parties have agreed on the following guidelines
which shall be binding in accordance with the first sentence of Article 4 (1)
of the Treaty.
A. GENERAL GUIDELINES
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS__________
1. The law of the German Democratic Republic will be modelled on the
principles of a free, democratic federal and social order governed by the rule
of law and be guided by the legal regime of the European Communities.
2. Regulations which commit individuals or state institutions, including
the legislature and the judiciary, to a socialist system of law, a socialist
body politic, the aims and targets of centralized economic control and
planning, a socialist sense of justice, socialist convictions, the convictions
of individual groups or parties, socialist morality, or comparable notions,
will no longer be applied. The rights and obligations of parties to legal
relations shall be bounded by public morals, the principle of good faith, and
the necessity of protecting the economically weaker party from undue
disadvantage.
3. Authorizations should be required only for compelling reasons of the
common weal. Their preconditions should be clearly defined.
II. ECONOMIC UNION__________
1. Economic activity should primarily occur in the private sector and on
the basis of competition.
2. Freedom of contract will be guaranteed. Intervention in the freedom of
economic activity must be kept to a minimum.
3. Business decisions will be free from planning targets (e.g. regarding
production, purchases, deliveries, investment, employment, prices and
utilization of profits).
4. Private enterprises and liberal professions will not be subjected to
worse treatment than state and cooperative enterprises.
5. Prices will be freely set, except where they are established by the
government for compelling reasons in cases where the economy as a whole is
affected.
6. For economic activity, the freedom to acquire, dispose of and use land
other factors of production will be guaranteed.
7. Enterprises under direct or indirect state ownership will be managed
according to the principles of economic efficiency, They will be organized
competitively as quickly as possible and transferred to private ownership as
far as possible. The aim is to open up opportunities for small and
medium-sized enterprises in particular.
8. In respect of posts and telecommunications, the regulatory and
organizational principles contained in the Structure of Posts and
Telecommunications Act of the Federal Republic of Germany will be adopted
step by step.
III. SOCIAL UNION__________
1. Everyone has the right to form or join organizations to safeguard and
enhance working and economic conditions, to leave such organizations and to
remain outside them. Furthermore, the right to be active within such
organizations is guaranteed. All agreements which restrict these rights will
be void. Trade unions and employers' associations will be protected as regards
their establishment, existence, organizational autonomy and proper activity.
2. Trade unions and employers' associations able to conclude collective
agreements must be freely formed, not include members from the other side, be
organized on a supra-company level and independent, and accept existing
legislation on collective bargaining as binding; they must also be able to
conclude collective agreements by exerting pressure on their bargaining
partner.
3. Wages and other working conditions will not be determined by the state
but through free negotiation between trade unions, employers' associations and
employers.
4. Legislation providing for special participation rights for the Free
German Trade Unions' Federation, company-level union organizations and union
management will no longer be applied.
B. GUIDELINES FOR INDIVIDUAL FIELDS OF LAW
I. JUDICIAL SYSTEM__________
1. Regulations providing for the participation of collectives, social
organs, trade unions, works, social prosecutors and defenders in the judicial
system and their right to be informed about proceedings will no longer be
applied; the right of trade unions to advice and legal representation in
labour disputes will remain unaffected by this provision.
2. Regulations on cooperation between the courts and local
representations of the people and other organs, the duty of judges to inform
the latter, as well as criticism of the courts will no longer be applied.
3. Regulations concerning the involvement of public prosecutors in the
judicial system will only be applicable in criminal cases and in family law,
parent and child and guardianship cases.
4. Principles contained in the Criminal Code of the German Democratic
Republic which relate to the socialist system of law and the socialist body
politic, as well as regulations which serve to maintain a centrally planned
economy, conflict with a future unification of the two German states or are
contrary to principles of a free democratic state, will not be applied to
offences committed after the entry into force of this Treaty.
5. Provisions of the Criminal Code which relate to socialist property
will not be applied to offences committed after the entry into force of this
Treaty; regulations concerning personal or private property will also be
applied to other property and assets after the entry into force of this
Treaty.
6. To the extent that the legislation referred to in Annex II provides
for fines or penalties and cannot be incorporated in the system of sanctions
of the German Democratic Republic, the German Democratic Republic will adapt
it to its own law as far as possible in line with the legislation of the
Federal Republic of Germany.
II. ECONOMIC LAW__________
1. For the purpose of establishing collateral for credits, rights
equivalent to those in the Federal Republic of Germany, especially rights in
rem, will be created in the German Democratic Republic.
2. Conditions for a free capital market will be created in the German
Democratic Republic. They will include particularly the liberalization of
interest rates and the admission of tradeable securities (stocks and bonds).
3. Conditions will be created so that administrative decisions and other
rulings made by authorities referred to in the third sentence of Article 3
of the Treaty can be enforced against persons domiciled in the German
Democratic Republic.
4. The existing insurance monopoly in the German Democratic Republic will
be abolished, premium control removed from those insurance branches where
tariffs are not part of the business statutes, and current legislation and
rules on general conditions for insurance companies repealed.
5. Existing barriers in the payment transactions system of the German
Democratic Republic will be removed and its structuring under private law
promoted.
6. Foreign trade and payments will be free. Restrictions will be
permissible only for compelling reasons in cases where the economy as a whole
is affected, on the basis of intergovernmental agreements. The German
Democratic Republic will abolish its external trade monopoly.
7. In order to achieve a comparable basis, the German Democratic Republic
will adjust its statistics to those of the Federal Republic of Germany and, in
cooperation with the Federal Statistical Office or the Deutsche Bundesbank,
make information available in accordance with federal statistical standards
for the following areas: labour market, prices, production, turnover, foreign
trade and payments and retail trade.
III. BUILDING LAW__________
In order to establish a reliable basis for construction planning and
investment, the German Democratic Republic will create as soon as possible a
legal framework consistent with the Building Code and the Regional Planning
Act of the Federal Republic of Germany.
IV. LABOUR AND SOCIAL LAW__________
1. Employers in the German Democratic Republic may agree with employees
from the Federal Republic of Germany who are temporarily employed in the
German Democratic Republic that the labour legislation of the Federal Republic
of Germany be applied.
2. Persons in temporary employment may be exempt from compulsory social
insurance if they have other cover.
3. The regulations of the German Democratic Republic governing
occupational safety and health will be adapted within an appropriate
transitional period to the industrial safety laws of the Federal Republic of
Germany.
4. In changing its legal minimum period of notice for employment
contracts, the German Democratic Republic will not exceed the statutory
minimum periods of notice applicable in the Federal Republic of Germany in
respect of wage-earners and salaried employees.
5. The German Democratic Republic will create a legal basis for summary
dismissal for important reasons in conformity with Sections 626 and 628 of the
Civil Code of the Federal Republic of Germany.
STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD
At the signing of the Treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and
the German Democratic Republic establishing a Monetary, Economic and Social
Union, the following statements were made with reference to the Treaty:
1. The two Contracting Parties state the following with regard to the
second sentence of Article 2 (1) of the Treaty: Freedom of movement within the
meaning of this provision also includes the entry into the currency area of
individuals, including members of ethnic minorities, who are in possession of
an identity card, a passport or document in lieu of a passport of the Federal
Republic of Germany or the German Democratic Republic.
2. The German Democratic Republic states that it will grant nationals and
enterprises of all member states of the European Communities equal treatment
with individuals and enterprises of the Federal Republic of Germany on a
reciprocal basis in so far as the jurisdiction of the European Communities
might be affected and in so far as nothing to the contrary is explicitly
agreed in this Treaty; the protocol (to the EEC Treaty) on German internal
trade remains unaffected by this provision.
3. The two Contracting Parties understand the three-month FIBOR within
the meaning of the third sentence of Article 8 of Section 4 (1) of Annex I to
be the respective interest rate which is determined in Frankfurt/Main every
three months on the second business day prior to the beginning of an interest
period, according to Section 2 (3) of the Conditions for the Bond of the
Federal Republic of Germany of 1990 (Securities Code No. 113-478) without the
discount envisaged in it.
4. In connection with Section 1 (3) of Annex IV the German Democratic
Republic states: To ensure competition for public contracts appropriate
directives will be established without delay and applied by public authorities
with effect from 1 January 1991 at the latest.
Bonn, 18 May 1990
For the For the
Federal Republic of Germany German Democratic Republic
Dr Theo Waigel Dr Walter Romberg