Federal Mining Act (BBerG)

The Federal Mining Act underpins the secure supply of raw materials with more efficient licensing and approval procedures, and prioritises the extraction of raw materials over other overriding interests for the common good. It also defines ownership rights in Part VII.

This law contains a raw material safeguarding clause: regulations under public law that stand opposed to the exploration for and extraction of raw materials should be applied only to the extent that any deleterious impact on exploration and extraction can be kept to an absolute minimum.

This law also draws a fundamental distinction between so-called “bergfreie” (economically more interesting mineral resources) and “grundeigene” mineral resources. The right to appropriate the bergfreie mineral resources has to be transferred through an independent administrative procedure (authorisation procedure) before operating licences can be granted. 

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