Die verbindliche Auskunft im allgemeinen Verwaltungsrecht

This thesis deals with the question of whether the VwVfG (the law governing administrative proceedings in Germany) requires a binding assessment on the legal preliminary clarification of future situations in addition to the assurance that has been codified for decades in § 38 of the VwVfG. The study draws its first significant conclusions from a comparative presentation and analysis of the binding assessment regulated in tax law pursuant to § 89 (2) of the AO (the basis of German tax law) and a preliminary building permit pursuant to § 73 (1) sentence 1 of the NBauO (building law in Lower Saxony). This comparison shows that a preliminary building permit is an extremely effective instrument for the obligatory preliminary clarification of future situations that has proven its value in construction law. On the basis of these conclusions, the study questions to what extent it is possible to grant a binding assessment in general administrative law in the form of a preliminary ruling or even a right to obtain positive or negative information. The combined conclusions drawn in this thesis lead to a legislative proposal for binding assessments in a new § 25a of the VwVfG.