Organisation

The legal basis for the organisation, structures and tasks of the German Judicial Academy is the „Administrative Agreement regarding the German Judicial Academy“, concluded by the Federation and the federal states with effect as of 1 January 1993. This agreement contains provisions on the sponsorship, tasks, budget and cost matters, administration, the programme conference and development of the programme offer.

The German Judicial Academy is jointly supported by the Federation and the 16 federal states. It is a national institution but has a federal character. This joint sponsorship is reflected by the fact that all sponsors assume equal responsibility with regard to the development of the programme offer. The Federation and the federal states are jointly responsible for planning  the programme and sending the participants and they jointly bear the costs of the German Judicial Academy.

Pursuant to the administrative agreement, the current costs of both institutions are borne, half each, by the Federation and the federal states, unless they are covered by income.
Hence, the Federation has assumed a particularly great financial responsibility for the costs. The Academy is financed 50% by the Federation. This reflects the Federation’s strong interest in further training on a national level. As judicial practice is first of all bound to apply federal law, said further training on a national level is intended to ensure a uniform implementation and interpretation.

The second 50% fall upon the 16 federal states. The costs are apportioned among the states in accordance with an agreed distribution key, the so called „Königsteiner üssel“, which consists in a scale especially developed by the German ministries of finance for the purpose of financing national institutions. The criteria used to determine the respective shares of the funding package are, first, the amount of tax revenues and, second, the number of inhabitants of the individual federal states (with the taxrevenues accounting for two thirds, and the number of inhabitants for one third). 

The German Judicial Academy has no uniform budget. The respective budgets of the two conference centres are part of the budgets of the justice departments of the states were they are domiciled. As a consequence, different budgetary law is applicable and different budget appropriations need to be observed. It is not possible, either, to balance any over or under expenditures between both conference centres. The financial requirements include in particular payroll costs, catering costs for the participants and fees and travel expenses for the lecturers. The participants’ travel expenses are always borne by the respective judicial department sending the participant and are thus no item of the German Judicial Academy’s budget.