The Federal Constitutional Court sees itself as part of an international legal order and the global community of constitutional courts. It maintains close relations with other institutions and engages in dialogue with national and international courts. There is ample opportunity for exchange when the Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court visit their counterparts at European and non-European courts and tribunals, welcome foreign delegations in Karlsruhe, and attend international conferences. The Court’s annual report, which is available in German and English, provides insights into the Court’s international activities in recent years.
Participation in international networks
The Federal Constitutional Court participates in many international networks (including those initiated by the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union). It was one of the initiators of both the Conference of European Constitutional Courts, which has regularly taken place since 1972, and of the meetings between the German-language constitutional courts (Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein), the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union, which have been held since 2006.
Information in English and French
The translation of key decisions and press releases into English is of particular importance for international exchange and the reception of the Federal Constitutional Court’s jurisprudence in other countries. These translations are created in-house and, along with many other English-language materials, are available in the English part of the Court’s website. In the ‘Selected decisions’ section on this website, translations of landmark decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court are presented to an international audience in thematic chapters. This section will be continuously expanded. Prior to 2022, thematic collections of the Court’s decisions were published in English translation in the print series ‘Decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court’.
French information is also available on the Court’s website.
Further information can be found on the Court's German website.
Short summaries of selected decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court in English and French are available through the CODICES database of the Commission for Democracy through Law (so-called Venice Commission).