Self-Determination Act (Germany)

Self-Determination Act
First page of the law in the Federal Law Gazette
German Bundestag
  • Act on self-determination with regard to gender entry
    German: Gesetz über die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag
CitationGesetz über die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag (SBGG) of 19 June 2024
Territorial extentGermany
Passed byGerman Bundestag
Passed12 April 2024
Passed byGerman Bundesrat
Passed17 May 2024
Signed byPresident Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Signed19 June 2024
Commenced1 November 2024
(18 days ago)
Codification
Acts repealedTranssexuals Act
German: Transsexuellengesetz
Legislative history
First chamber: German Bundestag
Introduced1 November 2023
First reading15 November 2023
Second reading12 April 2024
Third reading12 April 2024
Voting summary
  • 372 voted for
  • 251 voted against
  • 11 abstained
  • 100 absent
Second chamber: German Bundesrat
Received from the German Bundestag26 April 2024
Passed17 May 2024
Summary
German federal law on the free and independent determination of legal gender
Status: In force
  Countries in Europe allowing gender self-identification

The law on self-determination with regard to gender entry (German: Gesetz über die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag, SBGG), unofficially also called the Self-Determination Act (German: Selbstbestimmungsgesetz) is intended to make it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people in Germany to have their gender entry and first name changed.

A draft bill of the law has been available since May 2023. Following detailed changes, it was passed as a government draft on 23 August 2023.[1][2] Further changes were made before it was adopted by the German Bundestag on 12 April 2024[3] and passed the German Bundesrat on 17 May 2024.[4] The law was promulgated in the Bundesgesetzblatt on 21 June 2024 and came into force on 1 November 2024.[5]

The law stipulates that the gender entry and first name can be changed by simply making a declaration at the Standesamt; A three-month waiting period must be observed beforehand. Medical measures are neither regulated nor mandated by the SBGG.

With the entry into force of the Self-Determination Act on 1 November 2024, the Transsexuals Act (German: Transsexuellengesetz, TSG), which prescribes a complex expert procedure and judicial recognition of the changes for changing the gender entry and name, has been repealed.[6] It also replaced the main provisions introduced by the Third gender law, which previously only allowed intersex people to legally identify as a third, non-binary gender.

  1. ^ Keilani, Fatina (17 August 2023). "Queer, trans, bi: Selbstbestimmungsgesetz kommt mit kleinen Änderungen". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Selbstbestimmungsgesetz: Kritik von LGBTI-Aktivist*innen und Trans-Gegner*innen". queer.de (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "BGBl. 2024 I Nr. 206 vom 21.06.2024". Bundesgesetzblatt (in German). 21 June 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ Garbe, Sophie (17 July 2023). "(S+) Klimaschutz, Einbürgerung, Cannabis: Welche Vorhaben der Ampel noch offen sind". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 20 April 2024.