Around 1.1 million court-issued attachment and transfer orders are issued in Germany each year – according to figures in the committee report (BT-Drs. 21/4815, p. 31) of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection dated 18 March 2026. To date, these orders have been served in paper form by bailiffs (see the Bundestag report). That is now set to change.
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Today, 19 March 2026, the Bundestag is voting on the Act on the Further Digitalisation of Enforcement Proceedings (BT-Drs. 21/3737 in the committee version, BT-Drs. 21/4815). And this Act contains a short-notice amendment with significant impact – one that was not even remotely envisaged in the original government draft, but was only introduced yesterday via an amendment by the coalition parliamentary groups in committee (BT-Drs. 21/4815, Art. 3 No. 2).
What has happened?
In a last-minute political agreement during the legislative process, the coalition parliamentary groups of CDU/CSU and SPD introduced an amendment in the Legal Affairs Committee on 18 March 2026, supplementing the government draft at a crucial point. In Section 173 (2) No. 1 of the German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), the words “, credit institutions” will in future be inserted after the word “tax advisers”.
Two words. But with considerable impact.
What does this mean in practice?
All credit institutions within the meaning of Section 1 (1) sentence 1 of the German Banking Act (KWG) – in other words, virtually every bank in Germany – will be required to establish a secure transmission channel for the electronic service of documents. In plain terms: banks will need an eBO – an electronic mailbox for citizens and organisations – or a comparable secure transmission channel within the meaning of Section 130a (4) ZPO. In practice, this will most likely mean the eBO.
For savings banks as public-law institutions, this obligation already existed under Section 173 (2) No. 2 ZPO. Private banks were not previously covered. That is now changing. The legislator is creating alignment – as stated in the explanatory memorandum of the committee report.
Why banks in particular?
The answer is obvious: according to the coalition parliamentary groups, banks are the primary third-party debtors addressed by the approximately 1.1 million attachment and transfer orders issued annually (BT-Drs. 21/4815, p. 31). Anyone seeking to digitalise this mass process must consider the recipient side. It is of little use if the creditor’s lawyer files the application electronically with the enforcement court via beA, the court issues the order electronically – and then the bailiff turns up at the bank branch with a paper document because no electronic service channel exists.
Anyone building a digital motorway should not end it with a dirt track.
From when?
Not immediately. The legislator grants credit institutions a generous transitional period: the obligation will only enter into force on the first day of the 13th calendar month following promulgation (Art. 18 (4) of the Act). According to the Bundestag report, this means the obligation will apply only after a transitional period of around one year. If, for example, the Act is promulgated in April 2026, the obligation will apply from May 2027.
The other key parts of the Act will already enter into force on 1 October 2026 (Art. 18 (1)), in parallel with the planned amendment to the Enforcement Forms Regulation (BT-Drs. 21/4815, p. 32).
What do banks need to do now?
First: establish a secure transmission channel. The eBO is the obvious choice. It has been regulated by law since 1 January 2022, the infrastructure is in place, and other market participants such as debt collection service providers have long been using it. Alternatively, other secure transmission channels under Section 130a (4) ZPO may be considered.
Second: adapt internal processes. Institutions that have so far only dealt with paper-based attachment and transfer orders will in future need to be able to receive, process and respond to electronic service – including the third-party debtor declaration under Section 840 ZPO, which is also being reformed: in future, the request to submit the declaration may also be sent by post together with the attachment order, no longer only via personal service by the bailiff (new Section 840 (2) sentence 1 ZPO; see BT-Drs. 21/4815, p. 29).
Third: do not wait. One year may sound comfortable. However, anyone who has ever been involved in an IT project in a bank knows: the clock is ticking.
The bigger picture
This Act is more than a technical adjustment. It marks an important step in the digitalisation of enforcement proceedings. The government draft alone was already ambitious – electronic enforcement orders, electronic copies of enforceable copies, XML instead of PDF for attachment order applications (new Section 829 (5) ZPO, entering into force on 1 January 2027 pursuant to Art. 18 (3); see the detailed reasoning in BT-Drs. 21/4815, pp. 30 et seq.). The coalition parliamentary groups also mandated stronger use of structured, machine-readable data in the XJustiz format (Bundestag text archive). However, the passive usage obligation for credit institutions added during the parliamentary process is the element that makes the overall system coherent.
Conclusion
For banks, this means: set up an eBO or equivalent, digitalise processes, and make use of the transitional periods. For creditors and their lawyers, it means: finally end-to-end digital enforcement – at least for account attachments. And for the legislator, it means: keep going. The digital title register is still waiting.
The vote in the Bundestag will take place today, 19 March 2026, following a debate starting at 17:40 (Bundestag agenda). The Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection recommends adoption with the votes of the CDU/CSU, AfD, SPD and Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary groups against the votes of Die Linke (BT-Drs. 21/4815).
References:
- Government draft: BT-Drs. 21/3737
- Recommendation and report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection: BT-Drs. 21/4815
- Bundestag text archive on the legislative process: bundestag.de
- Amendment by the CDU/CSU and SPD parliamentary groups: Committee printed paper 21(6)71
- Electronic mailbox for citizens and organisations (eBO): Wikipedia
- Legal provisions: Section 173 (2) ZPO; Sections 130a, 130d ZPO; Section 1 (1) sentence 1 KWG
