The legal notice is the least glamorous page on any website - and the one most likely to be out of date. Since 14 May 2024 the German imprint requirement no longer sits in Section 5 TMG but in Section 5 of the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG), Germany's Digital Services Act (Section 5 DDG). Substantively little changed; the provision was largely moved rather than rewritten. Even so, many sites in and around Hildesheim still carry the old state of play: the wrong legal reference in the heading, a P.O. box instead of a serviceable address, a link to an EU platform that was switched off on 20 July 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228). This article is deliberately neither legal advice nor a warning-letter scare story. It is a sober checking guide: who is actually obliged, what exactly belongs in the notice, how reachable it has to be - and what is really true about the much-discussed Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer. As a web agency from the Hildesheim region we help local businesses bring their mandatory details up to date without drama.
Why the legal notice deserves a check in 2026
The Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz came into force on 14 May 2024 and implements the European Digital Services Act at national level (Section 5 DDG). The old Telemediengesetz was absorbed into it. The provider identification rules that used to sit in Section 5 TMG now appear almost word for word in Section 5 DDG - the legislator moved the provision editorially rather than rebuilding it. In practice that means: anyone heading their notice with "Angaben gemäß § 5 TMG" is citing a norm that no longer exists in that form. There is no obligation to cite a legal provision at all - the plain heading "Impressum" or "Anbieterkennzeichnung" is enough. But if you do cite one, cite the right one.
Access matters more than the heading. The Federal Ministry of Justice describes provider identification as information that must be easily recognisable, directly accessible and permanently available (Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ)). Those three words are the yardstick for any check: does a visitor find the notice without searching? Can they get there from every subpage? Is it permanently retrievable - even when the homepage is currently a campaign page or the site is in maintenance mode?
The second legacy issue concerns a link that was mandatory for years. The EU platform for online dispute resolution was repealed by Regulation (EU) 2024/3228 of 19 December 2024 and shut down on 20 July 2025 (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228). The formerly compulsory notice and link should therefore be removed from the legal notice, the terms and conditions and email signatures: pointing consumers at a decommissioned platform sends them nowhere. The information duties under the German Consumer Dispute Resolution Act are unaffected - businesses must still state whether they are willing or obliged to take part in consumer arbitration (Consumer Dispute Resolution Act (VSBG)).
Three dates you can see in the wild
Who is actually obliged
Section 5 (1) DDG addresses service providers who make available digital services offered on a business basis, normally for consideration (Section 5 DDG). Both terms are regularly misread. Geschäftsmäßig (on a business basis) means a sustained, planned activity carried out with the intention of repetition - an intention to make a profit is expressly not required. Normally for consideration describes the category of service, not the individual case: what matters is that services of this kind are usually paid for, not whether this particular website earns money.
No shop, no booking, no price list needed
Purely private offerings are exempt. Section 18 of the German Interstate Media Treaty likewise assumes that pages serving exclusively personal or family purposes need no provider identification (Interstate Media Treaty (MStV)). That exemption is narrow, though: a single advertising banner or participation in an affiliate programme can be enough for a page to no longer serve exclusively private purposes. If you are unsure, a correct legal notice is almost always the better bet than hoping the exemption applies.
A second layer concerns content rather than the company: anyone offering journalistic-editorial content - for example a regularly maintained advice section that works like classic press and shapes public opinion - must additionally name a responsible person with name and address (Section 18 (2) MStV). That has to be a natural person; a department or the company itself will not do. Breaches can be fined up to 50,000 euros (Section 115 MStV). For the usual company blog of a trades business with project reports this is normally not an issue - for a fully built editorial magazine it very much is.
Trades business without a shop
A pure presentation site is offered on a business basis and is therefore obliged - regardless of whether anything can be bought or booked online. We show how such a site should be structured on our page about web design for trades businesses.
Practice and health profession
On top of the general details, the chamber, the statutory professional title including the state that awarded it and the professional rules must be named (Section 5 DDG). More on our page about web design for health professions.
Restaurant with a menu
Even without online ordering the site is offered on a business basis. Where a licence to serve alcohol or another official authorisation is involved, the competent supervisory authority has to be named as well (Section 5 DDG).
Club with sponsors
As soon as a club goes beyond pure self-presentation - sponsor logos, advertising, ticket sales - the private exemption is usually gone. A registered association additionally needs its register and its board.
Freelancers and law firms
Regulated professions need the chamber, the professional title and the professional rules; often the professional indemnity insurer has to be named too. What that means for the website is described on our page about web design for liberal professions.
Purely private page
Anyone publishing exclusively personal or family content needs no legal notice (MStV). But the exemption falls away quickly - an advertising banner or an affiliate link is often enough.
The mandatory details under Section 5 DDG in full
Section 5 (1) DDG lists the details in eight numbered items (Section 5 DDG). Not every item applies to every business: items 3, 5, 7 and 8 only bite in specific constellations, while items 1 and 2 always apply. The overview below maps each item to the question of who it actually concerns - the fastest way to work through an existing notice.
| Item in Section 5 (1) DDG | What belongs in it | Who it concerns |
|---|---|---|
| No. 1 - Identity | Name and serviceable address; for legal entities additionally the legal form, the authorised representatives and - where capital figures are given - the share capital including outstanding contributions | everyone obliged |
| No. 2 - Contact | Details enabling fast electronic contact and direct communication, including the email address | everyone obliged |
| No. 3 - Supervision | The competent supervisory authority with its address and ideally its web address | only where official authorisation is required |
| No. 4 - Register | Commercial, association, partnership or cooperative register including the registration number | only where a register entry exists |
| No. 5 - Profession | Chamber, statutory professional title, the state that awarded it and the designation of the professional rules | regulated professions |
| No. 6 - Tax | VAT identification number or Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer, in each case where one exists | where a number exists |
| No. 7 - Winding-up | Notice of an ongoing winding-up or liquidation | AG, KGaA and GmbH being wound up |
| No. 8 - Audiovisual | Member state of establishment plus the competent regulatory and supervisory authorities | audiovisual media service providers |
A tax number is not a VAT ID
Serviceable address and fast contact
Item 1 asks for the address at which a provider is established. In practice that becomes the serviceable address: an address at which the operator can be reached in person and at which documents can be served. A P.O. box is not enough, nor is a bulk-mail postcode (IHK Munich). A virtual office where incoming post is merely scanned and forwarded does not work either - precisely because service cannot take place at that address (IHK Munich). For businesses run from home that is inconvenient but unambiguous: the business address belongs in the notice.
Item 2 asks for details enabling fast electronic contact and direct communication, including the email address (Section 5 DDG). The email address is therefore settled. Whether a telephone number is additionally required is still debated. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled back in 2008 that a provider must offer a second fast means of communication alongside the email address, but that this need not necessarily be a telephone number - a contact form can suffice if enquiries sent through it are answered within 30 to 60 minutes (CJEU, C-298/07).
The question is not which field you may technically leave out, but whether a customer reaches you without a detour. Answer that, and you have usually met the requirement already.
For local businesses the debate is academic anyway. A telephone number in the legal notice is the shortest path between an enquiry and a job, and the 30 to 60 minute response time the CJEU set as the benchmark for a form is something few businesses reliably hit in day-to-day work (CJEU, C-298/07). It also matters that the email address given actually works and is read. A freemail address in a company's legal notice not only looks unprofessional, it also gets lost more easily in daily practice - we explained why an address on your own domain is the better choice in our article on the professional email address on your own domain.
- Serviceable address: street and house number, postcode and town - no P.O. box, no pure scanning service (IHK Munich).
- Email address spelled out: it has to be there as a detail. Pure graphics or spellings like "name (at) domain.de" are risky because they hinder fast contact.
- A second fast route: a telephone number or a contact form with a realistically short response time (CJEU, C-298/07).
- Representatives by name: for a GmbH, UG or AG the managing directors or board members belong in the notice with first and last names (Section 5 DDG).
- Register court and number: not just "Amtsgericht Hildesheim" but the specific registration number too (Section 5 DDG).
- Test the reachability: once a quarter, send a test email to the address given and call the number listed.
Special cases by legal form and profession
Most faulty legal notices do not fail on item 1 but on the extra details that follow from legal form or profession. The six constellations below cover the bulk of what we encounter at local businesses.
Sole trader
First and last name of the owner plus a serviceable address. A made-up name or the trading name alone is not enough - the natural person must be identifiable. Without a commercial register entry item 4 falls away, without a VAT ID item 6 falls away (Section 5 DDG).
GbR (civil law partnership)
All partners must be named with their names and serviceable addresses, not just one. Since the reform of German partnership law a GbR can be entered in the company register - in which case the register and registration number under item 4 apply too (Section 5 DDG).
GmbH and UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Company name as registered, legal form, serviceable address, all managing directors, register court and registration number. For a UG the suffix "(haftungsbeschränkt)" belongs in the company name. If share capital figures are given, outstanding contributions must be stated too (Section 5 DDG).
Registered association
Name as registered, address, the board authorised to represent it, the association register and the registration number. Where the association acts on a business basis - sponsoring, advertising, ticket sales - the imprint duty applies just as it does to any other provider (Section 5 DDG).
Regulated professions
Doctors, dentists, pharmacists, tax advisors, lawyers, architects and other regulated professions additionally name the competent chamber, the statutory professional title including the state that awarded it, and the designation of the professional rules - with a pointer to where these can be viewed (Section 5 DDG).
Licensed activities
Wherever official authorisation is required - insurance and financial investment brokerage, estate agents, security services or hospitality with a licence to serve alcohol - the competent supervisory authority belongs in the notice (Section 5 DDG).
Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer: what really applies in 2026
The Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer (W-IdNr) is a nationwide identifier for economically active persons; its legal basis is Section 139c of the German Fiscal Code (Fiscal Code (AO)). It consists of the prefix DE, a nine-digit sequence and a five-digit distinguishing mark, for example DE123456789-00001 (Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt)). For many VAT-registered businesses the numeric part matches the VAT identification number they already know, extended by the mark -00001 for the first economic activity (BZSt). That is where part of the confusion comes from: many businesses have had a W-IdNr for a while without consciously noticing.
Assignment runs in stages. The Federal Central Tax Office started on 24 October 2024; after the first stage, due to be completed by the end of November 2024, an expected 87 percent of all economically active persons had received a W-IdNr (Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF)). A further 11 percent were planned for the third quarter of 2025 and the remaining 2 percent from the second quarter of 2026; the roll-out is intended to be completed in 2026 (BMF). For economically active persons who do not meet the first-stage criteria, the Federal Central Tax Office names the fourth quarter of 2026 as the likely date, with further distinguishing marks for multiple activities following from 2027 (BZSt).
No application is needed: the number is assigned automatically (BZSt). It is communicated either by public announcement in the Federal Tax Gazette - for businesses that already had a VAT ID there was an announcement dated 2 October 2024, with no individual letter - or electronically via the ELSTER user account (BZSt). Anyone who never checks their ELSTER inbox and waits for a letter may simply have missed their number.
What circulates online - and what the law says
- Legal basis: Section 139c of the Fiscal Code governs the W-IdNr, Section 5 (1) no. 6 DDG governs whether it belongs in the legal notice (AO, Section 5 DDG).
- Structure: DE plus nine digits plus a five-digit distinguishing mark, for example DE123456789-00001 (BZSt).
- No application: assignment happens automatically, there is no application procedure (BZSt).
- Communication: public announcement in the Federal Tax Gazette or electronically via ELSTER - a letter does not arrive in every case (BZSt).
- Timetable: start on 24 October 2024, around 87 percent after the first stage, roll-out intended to finish in 2026, remaining group likely from the fourth quarter of 2026 (BMF, BZSt).
- Legal notice: state it only where one exists - there is no duty to obtain a number you do not have (Section 5 DDG).
Reachable in two clicks: placement and technique
The most complete mandatory details are useless if nobody finds them. The established practical benchmark is that the legal notice must be reachable from any page within two clicks at most - on its own subpage, linked through a recurring link clearly labelled "Impressum" that ideally appears on every page, for example in the footer (IHK Munich). That matches the Federal Ministry of Justice's wording that the details must be easily recognisable, directly accessible and permanently available (BMJ).
- Its own subpage: the notice sits at a stable URL, not in an overlay that disappears without JavaScript.
- Clear labelling: the link is called "Impressum" or "Anbieterkennzeichnung" - not "Info", "Legal" or "About us" with the details buried inside.
- On every page: the link sits in the footer of every subpage, including landing and campaign pages (IHK Munich).
- Real text: the details are text in the page, not a graphic and not only a PDF download.
- Reachable on mobile: there is a route to the notice on a smartphone too, without the footer being covered by a floating bar.
- Reachable without consent: the notice must be retrievable even when a visitor has not yet decided anything in the cookie banner.
The last point connects two topics that are usually treated separately. A consent banner that blocks the page until a decision is made can effectively block the route to the legal notice too - which touches the requirement of permanent availability. How a banner has to be built so that it leaves that choice cleanly is described in our article on the cookie banner under the TDDDG. And because reachability is a question of contrast, focus and keyboard operation as much as clicks, it is worth looking at the BFSG requirements for websites - a legal notice link you cannot reach with a keyboard is only reachable on paper.
Technically none of this is much work if the site is cleanly built from the start. In a well-considered web design from Hildesheim the footer is a component rendered on every page - which means the legal notice is automatically linked everywhere without anyone having to remember it. It gets laborious where campaign pages or landing pages sit beside the actual website as isolated builds and do not carry the footer with them.
The checklist for your legal notice
The order below has proven useful because it starts with the points you can settle in minutes and ends with those that need a conversation. It does not replace a legal review, but it reliably sorts what is obviously missing from what you should discuss.
- Legal reference: does it still say "Section 5 TMG"? Then either update it to Section 5 DDG or drop the reference entirely - it is not mandatory (Section 5 DDG).
- ODR platform: is there still a link or notice pointing at the EU online dispute resolution platform? That has had to go since 20 July 2025 - from the legal notice, the terms and the email signature (Regulation (EU) 2024/3228).
- Address: is there a serviceable address with street and house number - and not a P.O. box (IHK Munich)?
- Contact: is the email address stated, does it work, and is it read? Is there a second fast route (CJEU, C-298/07)?
- Representation: for a legal entity, are the legal form and all authorised representatives named (Section 5 DDG)?
- Register: are the register court and registration number correct - and still current after a move or a change of company name (Section 5 DDG)?
- Profession and supervision: for regulated professions, are the chamber, professional title, awarding state and professional rules named? For licensed activities, is the supervisory authority stated (Section 5 DDG)?
- Tax numbers: is the VAT ID correct - and has the tax office's plain tax number crept in, which does not belong there (Section 5 DDG)?
- W-IdNr: has a Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer been assigned to you, by announcement in the Federal Tax Gazette or via ELSTER? Then the entry deserves a check (BZSt).
- Reachability: can you get from any subpage to the legal notice in two clicks - on desktop and on a smartphone (IHK Munich)?
What this list does - and what it does not
Mandatory details as part of a maintained website
What stands out is how rarely a faulty legal notice is a legal problem and how often it is an organisational one. The details were correct once - then the partnership became a limited company, a second managing director joined, the business moved, the chamber membership changed, a platform was switched off. All of that changed in real life. It just never reached the website, because nobody was responsible for it.
That is exactly why we do not treat the legal notice, the privacy policy and reachability as text blocks bolted on at the end of a project, but as part of ongoing website maintenance from Hildesheim: when something changes in the business, the change is carried through - and once a year the mandatory details go through the checklist anyway. That is deliberately different from the technical protection against attacks and outages covered in our article on website maintenance and security. Here what counts is simply that the details are right.
Part of that is having the basics sorted. Anyone without control over their domain, hosting and access credentials may not even be able to correct their legal notice at short notice - why that question comes before any discussion of content is described in our article on who owns your website's domain and access. Together with web hosting with clear responsibilities and an email address that is actually read, this adds up to an operation that does not have to reinvent its mandatory details every time.
And the next labelling question is already on the horizon: where AI tools generate content, separate transparency duties come into play - our article on the AI labelling requirement for websites sets out what applies from August 2026. The pattern is the same every time: a manageable duty, a large share of outdated pages, plenty of noise online. Anyone whose website is cleanly built and maintained works through points like these in an hour. Anyone else starts by looking for the login. Our overview of the services of the Hildesheim web agency shows what sits behind that - from the first page to ongoing care.