Impressum / legal notice guide

Provider identification is required on commercial websites in Germany and Austria. This is a field guide, not legal advice — verify against current law and have a lawyer review.

When required

• Germany: §5 DDG (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz, formerly §5 TMG) — any commercial site.
• Austria: §5 ECG (E-Commerce-Gesetz) and §24/25 MedienG — commercial sites and sites with journalistic content.
• Most other EU countries have similar provider-identification duties (e.g. France, Italy, Spain). Check the local law.

Purely private, non-commercial sites are generally exempt — but "commercial" is interpreted broadly (any business promotion counts).

Germany — §5 DDG required fields

• Full name (or company name + legal form)
• Street, house number, postal code, city
• Contact: email (must work) and phone or fax
• If registered: register court + registration number (e.g. HRB 12345 Amtsgericht München)
• If VAT-registered: USt-IdNr.
• For regulated professions (lawyer, doctor, tax advisor): professional title, state, and supervisory authority
• If a legal representative exists (Geschäftsführer, Vorstand): name

Austria — §5 ECG required fields

• Full name (or company name + legal form)
• Street, house number, postal code, city
• Email and phone
• If registered: register court + registration number (Firmenbuchnummer, e.g. FN 123456a)
• If VAT-registered: UID (ATU...)
• If a legal representative exists: name
• For regulated professions: professional title, state, and supervisory authority
• §25 MedienG (journalistic content): publisher name, media owner, and editorial responsibility (Herausgeber, Medieninhaber, Chefredakteur)

Placement

• Link from the footer on every page (footer component).
• Reachable within 2 clicks from any page.
• Same language as the site.

Rules

• Never invent data. Ask the user for the real fields.
• A wrong or incomplete Impressum is worse than none — it invites Abmahnungen (cease-and-desist letters).
• Update when the business data changes.