Portal network for digital administrative services

(1) The Federation and the Länder are obliged to offer their administrative services electronically as well, via administrative portals. By way of derogation, administrative services that serve to implement federal statutes and concern exclusively users within the meaning of section 2(4) number 2 are, at the latest by the end of the fifth calendar year following the promulgation of the Act of 19 July 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024 I No. 245), to be offered exclusively electronically. A departure from the exclusively electronic offering of an administrative service under sentence 2 is permissible where the user has a legitimate interest. Where an administrative service is already offered exclusively electronically before the expiry of the period under sentence 2, this must be announced electronically, at a suitable point, with reasonable advance notice.
(2) After the end of the fourth calendar year following the promulgation of the Act of 19 July 2024 (Federal Law Gazette 2024 I No. 245), users are entitled to electronic access to the Federation's administrative services. Claims for damages and compensation are excluded.
(3) The Federation and the Länder are obliged to link their administrative portals with one another into a portal network, so that users obtain, via all administrative portals of the Federation and the Länder, access to the electronic administrative services of these administrative bodies without media discontinuity and free of barriers. The Länder are obliged to ensure the technical and organisational conditions for connecting municipalities and associations of municipalities, as well as other legal persons governed by public law that are subject to the Land's supervision, to the portal network.
(4) The Federation shall provide, on the Federation's administrative portal, a search service for finding electronic administrative services within the portal network. On the basis of an administrative agreement with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, the Länder may also make use of this search service for their own administrative portals.
(5) The Federation and the Länder shall, by 31 December 2027 at the latest, link their administrative portals under section 72a(2) of the Administrative Procedure Act into a joint administrative portal. The IT components for the Federation's administrative portal, including the associated data platform, are determined by the Federal Ministry of Transport in agreement with the Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and State Modernisation. The IT components for the Länder's administrative portal, including the associated data platform, are determined by the Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and State Modernisation, in agreement with the IT Planning Council, by statutory ordinance requiring the consent of the Bundesrat.