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Federal agencies in Germany are established to assist the country'sexecutive branch on thefederal level according toArticle 86 of theBasic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (Grundgesetz).^[1] They are hierarchically organized on four levels:

• Top-level federal agencies (Oberste Bundesbehörden), which are distinguished from all other levels as they are specifically mentioned in theGrundgesetz. They include:
  • the office of thePresident of Germany (Bundespräsidialamt)
  • the office of thePresident of the Bundestag
  • theGerman Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt)
  • the administrative office of theBundesrat
  • the President of theFederal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht)
  • theBundesrechnungshof
  • the Representative of the Federal Government for Culture and Media (Kulturstaatsminister)
  • the Press and Information Agency of the Federal Government (Bundespresseamt)
  • the Federal Ministries led by the members of theGerman Cabinet
  • the executive board of theDeutsche Bundesbank
• As far as the authority of the federal legislature is concerned, further Upper-level federal agencies (Bundesoberbehörden) can be established. These agencies are directly attached subordinate to a federal ministry and mostly do not have any agencies subordinate to them,^[2] such as
  • theBundesnachrichtendienst (subordinate to the German Chancellery)
  • theFederal Criminal Police Office, theFederal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, theFederal Office for Information Security, and theTechnisches Hilfswerk (Federal Agency for Technical Relief)
  • theFederal Network Agency (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology)
  • theDeutsches Patent- und Markenamt (Patent Office)
  • theFederal Agency for Nature Conservation and theFederal Agency for Radiation Protection (Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety)
  • theFederal Agency for Materials Research and Testing (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology)
  • theFederal Railway Authority and theFederal Agency for Aviation (Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs)
  • theZollkriminalamt (Customs enforcement agency)
• Middle-level federal agencies are situated between a federal ministry and the lowest administrative level. Their responsibilities are limited to specific regions, for example, the fiveBundesfinanzdirektionen (subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Finance) or the four Military District Administrative Offices of theBundeswehr (under the command of theFederal Minister of Defence).
• Low-level federal agencies are subordinate to middle-level agencies and are responsible for relatively small areas such as District Recruiting Offices, Waterways and Shipping Offices or Chief Customs Offices.^[3]

According toArticle 83 of theGrundgesetz, federal laws are generally enforced by the executive branch of theGerman states, except for laws referring to those explicit items that are enumerated in the constitution itself.^[4] Therefore, the establishment of middle-level and low-level federal agencies is limited to the authority explicitly granted by constitutional law, such asforeign policy,public finance,waterways andshipping,border control,intelligence assessment,national security andcriminal investigation as well as items concerning the Bundeswehr or aviation and railway issues.

• Administration of the Federation at bund.deArchived 2011-06-15 at theWayback Machine

• German federal agencies

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