Bayerischer Landtag; Einreichung einer Petition

All residents of Bavaria have the right to submit written requests and complaints to the responsible authorities or to the state parliament.

The fundamental right to petitions and complaints (right of petition) is enshrined in the Bavarian Constitution (BV) of 1946. However, the above-quoted paragraph of the Constitution only partially reflects the broad scope of the right of petition. Further information is provided by the Petitions Act of 1993 ("Act on the Handling of Petitions and Complaints to the Bavarian State Parliament pursuant to Article 115 of the Constitution - Bavarian Petitions Act"), which has been further developed several times since then. It expressly regulates, for example, that the right to submit petitions and complaints also applies to people who do not live in the Free State of Bavaria and to Germans as well as people of foreign origin. Both adults and minors are entitled to submit a petition to the Bavarian State Parliament. People who are imprisoned, legally incapacitated or under guardianship or care, as well as certain legal entities, are also given the opportunity to submit a complaint to parliament.

The Bavarian right to petition is "generous" in other ways too: for example, it allows complaints to be submitted on behalf of other people, such as disabled people or people in need of care, or in the interests of other people for whom the petitioner wishes to speak up. And - of course - the procedure is free of charge for you.

Finally, the fundamental right to petitions and complaints is not tied to an individual. Time and again, citizens submit petitions to the Bavarian State Parliament together. Sometimes even collective or mass petitions find their way into parliament. This is also expressly permitted by the constitution and the Petitions Act.

Thus, the concerns of tens of thousands of citizens are actually behind around 2,000 petitions and complaints every year. As you can see, you can use the right of petition to contact your representatives, the MPs, directly. Regardless of whether you want to complain about an administrative decision that you believe was wrongly made or make a proposal to change certain laws. Conversely, MPs can use the complaints they receive to find out how the laws they pass work in practice. And they can exercise their control function over the government and administration in a very concrete way.

• Correspondence with the authority, if applicable

First check whether the Bavarian Parliament is responsible for your request! The Bavarian parliament deals with all petitions and complaints concerning Bavarian laws and authorities. However, petitions that are directed against public bodies (e.g. municipalities, universities) are also subject to examination by the state parliament, insofar as the state supervision of these bodies extends. Please note that petitions requesting action by state authorities or other public administration bodies will only be dealt with once a corresponding application has been submitted to the relevant authority.

As you can see: The decisive question is whether the Bavarian legislature or the Bavarian administration is responsible for the subject matter of the petition. Conversely, the Bavarian State Parliament is not your point of contact for complaints if your petition is directed against authorities of other federal states or the federal government, for example. In such cases, please contact the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag (postal address: Deutscher Bundestag, Petitions Committee, Platz der Republik 1, 11011 Berlin; e-mail: vorzimmer.peta@bundestag.de) or the respective federal state.

Please note that petitions concerning legally concluded court proceedings are generally not admissible. The reason for this is that the Bavarian Constitution and the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany guarantee the independence of the judiciary. You can only have court judgments and decisions reviewed by means of the appeal procedures provided for this purpose.

If you have any doubts as to whether your matter can be examined by way of a petition to the State Parliament, you can call the Central Office for Petitions of the State Parliament Office on (089) 41 26 22 27.

The procedure is free of charge.

Submit your petition directly and easily online with your attachments (you will find the link to the online petition under "Online procedure") and thus avoid postal delivery times.

You can also submit your petition in writing by post or fax (the form can be found under "Forms"). Please make sure that you sign the petition and give your full name and address. Anonymous or unsigned petitions cannot be processed or will lead to delays in further processing.

Your petition will be dealt with by a specialist committee or the Petitions Committee.

So that the members of the relevant committee can get a comprehensive picture of your concern, it is helpful if you enclose a copy of the key documents (e.g. correspondence with the authority) with your petition. In the case of an online petition, you have the option of sending your attachments directly to us. Your petition can only be processed once all documents have been submitted!

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