Munich (dpa/lby) - The Bavarian cities will not be able to meet the federal government's requirement to offer all administrative services online by the end of the year. The city council pointed this out in a statement on Friday. "The legal deadline cannot be kept for the Bavarian municipalities. Both the federal government and the Free State of Bavaria must offer support offers for municipalities of all sizes even more committed, long-term plannable and sustainably financed," said Managing Director Bernd Buckenhofer.
The Online Access Act (OZG) passed in 2017 obliges the federal, state and local governments to also offer their administrative services digitally by the end of 2022 at the latest. A large part of the administrative services to be digitized is accounted for by cities and municipalities, according to the City Day. The Bavarian municipalities are working with "great commitment to implement the goals of the OZG". However, the municipal landscape is very heterogeneous in many respects. Depending on their size and structure, municipalities would have different responsibilities, and there would also be different personnel and financial resources - and legal barriers, such as in the registration system.
Buckenhofer also pointed out that some services in the OZG catalog are hardly in demand. It should therefore be considered "whether the structure and maintenance of those online services can be economical".
The three major cities of Munich, Augsburg and Nuremberg are also unable to meet the OZG schedule, although the three municipalities have been cooperating on digitization since 2019. According to an overview by the Digital Ministry, they are the leaders in Bavaria when it comes to offering digital administrative services.
