In Germany, there are official and central EIA portals for both the federal and state levels. In addition to the central state EIA portals, there are also participation platforms at regional level that list both formal and informal participation opportunities. The participation portal in Saxony and the participation platforms in Brandenburg, Berlin and Lower Saxony are listed here as examples of good practice.
A detailed analysis of the German EIA portal, particularly regarding the need for improvement and the legal situation of digital public participation, can be found in an UfU-publication, which covers the situation in Germany as well as in four other countries.
Central portal
The official and central EIA portal is clearly structured. The portal lists all EIA procedures at federal level on one website and offers direct access to the state portals of the 16 federal states. However, the portal is still incomplete, as not all projects subject to EIA are uploaded to the portal. If all EIAs were uploaded to the portal, procedures could be found quickly and easily thanks to the standardised structure of the portal. This is a major advantage over the scattered publication on the websites of the authorities.
Source: Screenshot EIA portal Germany.
Visualisation & maps
In Germany, both the EIA portal for the federal level and the individual state portals contain maps that allow users to search for EIA procedures in specific regions. The EIA procedures are also directly linked here, so that users are forwarded directly to the page of the EIA procedure.
Source: EIA portal of the federal states.
Source: EIA portal of the federal states.
Social Media
A good practice example for dealing with social media in Germany is the Federal Network Agency. The Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway is an independent higher federal authority. It acts as a regulatory authority to ensure competition in the so-called network markets. Since 2011, the Federal Network Agency has also been responsible for the grid development plan and the authorisation procedures for the extra-high-voltage grid in Germany. The agency regularly provides information about ongoing procedures on Twitter, Mastodon and Facebook.
However, other German authorities predominantly do not provide information about EIAs on social media. Some local authorities, such as cities and county councils, sometimes publish information about EIAs on social media, but it is unclear how many authorities do so.
Informal and formal participation – region of Saxony
In addition to the central state EIA portals, in Germany there are also participation platforms at regional level that list both formal and informal participation opportunities. One example of this is the Saxony participation portal. For example, various formats such as dialogues, online surveys, participation in the context of legislative changes and others are offered on a temporary or longer-term basis. The portal is operated by the Free State of Saxony and is orientated towards the needs and requirements of local authorities and administrations. There are no additional licence or operating costs for state or municipal authorities. In addition, the accessibility of the platforms is checked by the BITV test, which is carried out at regular intervals (Pietsch 2023: 56). The federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse have also developed their own participation portal based on the Saxon portal. Since 2022, the three state administrations have also been working on ways to further digitalise participation processes (ibid.: 63).
Source: Participation Portal Saxony
Comment function – region of Brandenburg
The participation platform Brandeburg was developed by Brandenburg’s environmental NGOs in collaboration with UfU to facilitate the joint processing of comments. Members of the environmental NGOs can log into the portal and use a text field to submit statements and comments in the portal. The portal is therefore a good practice example for the implementation of the comment function. The portal shows how many comments have already been submitted on a project. The regional association of environmental NGOs then collects the comments and objections received and can use this as a basis for drawing up a joint statement supported by all environmental NGOs and submitting it to the authorities. This makes co-operation between environmental NGOs and authorities much easier and is also appreciated by the authorities. Participation platforms based on the same concept were subsequently also set up in the federal states of Berlin and Lower Saxony.
Archive function – region of Brandenburg
The Brandenburg participation platform is also a good practice example for the archive function. An archive is being set up in the portal that is missing in Germany’s central EIA portal. Procedures up to the year 2014 are available. Similar archive functions are also being set up in the platforms of the federal states of Berlin and Lower Saxony.
