Legal forms for the state forest - options and consequences

摘要

For several years, reforms of the respective State Forest Service have been ongoing in every German Land. One important issue is the appropriate legal form for state forests. Today, the legal form of the state undertaking (Regiebetrieb) is still prevailing. However, the Lands Saarland. Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt have decided to established a so-called Landesbetrieb, i.e. a state forest enterprise that is equipped with increased entrepreneurial freedom. Although there is some support for other alternatives in the field of civil law, especially stock corporations, these have not been realized because of strong rejection by professional associations, environmental NGOs and the public. Looking into the future, the most important question is if the changeof the legal form is just a suitable means to reduce budget deficits or if it initialises a process of privatisation that results in the sale of forest areas.