Consult this publication on line at

http://dbtg.tv/cvid/2021948
.
29. It should be noted that the legislature can draw on the work of the National Regulatory Control
Council (“Normenkontrollrat” or NKRG), and independent advisory body, to assess compliance
costs or the administrative burdens that new legislative proposals place on citizens, businesses
and public authorities. Since 2011, the mandate of the NKRG was expanded to include review of
regulatory proposals from the floor of the Bundestag. In May 2013, the Alliance 90/The Greens
parliamentary group was the first parliamentary group to request that the NKRG to review a Draft
Law on the Creation of a Register of Untrustworthy Companies (KorrRegG) (NKRG Annual Report,
2013).

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BUDGET REVIEW: GERMANY
OECD JOURNAL ON BUDGETING – VOLUME 2014/2 © OECD 2015
77
30. The Budget Committee Rapporteurs may receive advance information on the budget and line items
in their portfolios from the line ministries, although this is not a formal part of the budget process.
31. Interestingly the number and size of parliamentary amendments to the budget have decreased
since the Riksdag began voting on ceilings (Wehner, 2011).
32. The “OECD Best Practices for Budget Transparency” (OECD, 2002) state that the executive’s draft
budget should be submitted far enough in advance for proper review by the legislature – at least
three months prior to the start of the fiscal year.
33. The budget proper includes the aggregate budget and the 22 departmental budgets. The aggregate
budget includes a budgetary summary, calculations on the permissible borrowing under
constitutional law, the financial balance (financing summary), and a borrowing plan. The
departmental budgets are divided into chapters categorised according to each line ministry’s
programmatic priorities and the subordinate authorities assigned to that ministry. 
34. Federal Budget Code Section 30. See also Art. 110 (03) of the Basic Law.
35. Section 31 of the Federal Budget Code defines the Finance Report as, “a report on the current state
of the public finances and their probably development in relation to the overall economic trend.”
36. The BC leadership may also co-ordinate with the leadership of the Finance Committee which is
responsible for matters relating to tax legislation.
37. For a discussion of past trends, see Wehner, 2001, pp. 60.
38. It should be noted that Budget Committee members also have recourse to the so-called “Infobitte”
(information request). Every member of the Budget Committee has the right to put questions to
the Federal Ministry of Finance, unrestricted in number and size. The Federal Ministry of Finance
will answer with a written report, usually very promptly. The answer is sent not only to the
questioner, but to representatives of all political groups in the Budget Committee. Yearly requests
number in the 100s.
39. Developed by civil society organisations on behalf of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bbp)
and the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development.
40. See 
www.solingen-spart.de/
, developed by the city of Solingen in partnership with Zebralog and the
Fraunhofer Institute IAIS (St. Augustine), with an online platform designed by Ontopica and Die
Projektoren. In its first year (2010) the consultation resulted in a proposal to save EUR 44 million.
Another interesting example is the City of Cologne which seeks proposals from citizens on
expenditure, cost saving measures and revenues over a four week period each year via the online
platform 
https://buergerhaushalt.stadt-koeln.de/2013
. The platform also allows citizens to comment
on and rate proposals. The ten most highly rated proposals are then reviewed by the
administration, and forwarded to the Cologne city council along with a statement. The Council
publishes a final accountability report with its decisions on the online platform.