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On 1 October 2026, the Act on the Further Digitisation of Enforcement Proceedings will come into force in its essential parts. At the heart of this long-awaited change is the long-overdue abolition of the obligation to submit enforcement orders in paper form as part of the enforcement process, which is otherwise already fully digitised. This is not only cause for great excitement at PASCHEN, as this small change will have enormous consequences for the speed of enforcement proceedings and the resources required to carry them out.

More speed next time, please

As early as the 20th legislative period, the Federal Government had tabled a draft act on the further digitisation of enforcement proceedings. The draft was debated for the first time in the German Bundestag on 16 May 2024.

The German Bundestag’s Legal Affairs Committee held a public hearing on 25 September 2024. Whilst the experts consulted welcomed greater digitisation, they also immediately called for further steps to be taken. Among other things, discussions centred on an electronic register of enforcement orders, a central digital enforcement register and more comprehensive technical standards. Unfortunately, no agreement could be reached on simply taking the initial, straightforward steps first and then refining them further at a later date. The Act was ultimately never passed, largely due to the premature end of the ‘traffic light’ coalition.

On 9 July 2025, a new draft with largely identical content was published; the federal states and associations were given until 1 August 2025 to submit their comments (once again). The Act was subsequently reintroduced into the parliamentary process during the new legislative term. On 19 March 2026, the German Parliament finally passed the Act. The German Federal Council considered the Act at its 1,065th meeting on 8 May 2026 and did not refer the matter to the Mediation Committee. Following its promulgation on 20 May 2026, the Act was gazetted on 26 May 2026; the vast majority of the provisions will finally come into force on 1 October 2026.

A full two and a half years have thus passed before this simple and utterly logical step was finally taken, and whilst we are delighted with the outcome, it is to be hoped that, given the difficult economic conditions, further measures of this kind will be implemented at a pace more in line with the legislative speed seen during the pandemic.

A small change – a huge impact

Whilst applications in enforcement proceedings have had to be submitted electronically by lawyers for years, enforcement orders still had to be submitted as original paper documents. This meant that the electronic processing process always had to pause for a considerable time in order to incorporate the enforcement order. For creditors and their legal representatives, this meant additional postal procedures, extremely long delivery times, postage and scanning costs, as well as the risk that a case would be severely delayed due to missing documents, documents not received on time, or – in the worst-case scenario – documents lost in the post.

In future, it will generally suffice to convert the enforceable copy, the enforcement clause and any other necessary enforcement documents into electronic form oneself and to transmit them electronically to the bailiff. The previous change in media format is no longer required!

The new regulations not only place a huge burden off creditors and their legal representatives, but also, to the same extent, off enforcement courts and bailiffs. Until now, with a few exceptions, they have always had to match an electronically submitted application with a paper copy received separately. The paper document had to be identified, assigned to the correct case and checked for completeness.

With the electronic transmission of all relevant documents, this additional processing step is almost entirely eliminated. The benefit lies not only in the elimination of paper, printing, postage and archiving costs. Above all, it releases personnel resources that are urgently needed for other tasks.

Enormous time savings through immediate processing

However, the fact that processing is no longer dependent on the receipt of a paper copy sent by post saves, above all, the most important resource in enforcement proceedings: time. The electronic enforcement order, which is received immediately along with the digitised documents, can be processed straight away; the conditions for enforcement can be checked immediately; and the necessary decisions can be set in motion straight away. Given the recent massive increase in postal delivery and processing times, an enormous time saving is to be expected.

Further important amendment from mid-2027

A further important step will follow on 1 June 2027. From this date, credit institutions will also be required to participate in electronic legal proceedings in the relevant enforcement procedures.

This is particularly significant for creditors in the case of account seizures. Through the electronic processing of seizure measures, all of the debtor’s accounts can then be seized simultaneously. Until now, this has had to be carried out sequentially, relying on the postal service to transmit the documents. Unsurprisingly, this has sometimes meant that such measures have failed to yield results from the second account onwards.

Conclusion from the creditor’s perspective

The Act finally establishes the long-overdue foundation for a more automated – and thus significantly swifter – enforcement process. The previous disruption in the flow of information is eliminated, and from mid-2027 this will also apply to communication with banks in enforcement proceedings.

At the same time, the burden on courts and enforcement authorities will be eased. The staff resources thus released can not only help to further reduce processing times but, where appropriate, also free up capacity in other areas of the judiciary to better manage their heavy workload.

Here at PASCHEN, we will keep you informed about the practical implications of this further milestone in the digitalisation of the administration of justice.