German Email Signature Requirements (Pflichtangaben)

In Germany, business email counts as a business letter, and the mandatory details for business letters apply to it. Section 37a of the Commercial Code (HGB) requires registered traders to show, on all business letters in any form addressed to a specific recipient, the business name, a legal form designation such as eingetragener Kaufmann, the place of business, the register court, and the commercial register number. Company laws extend this: section 35a of the GmbH Act requires a GmbH to show its legal form, registered office, register court, register number, and all managing directors with their family name and at least one written first name, plus the chair of the supervisory board if there is one; stock corporations have similar duties under the Stock Corporation Act. Some messages within an existing business relationship are exempt when they use forms normally used in that relationship, but most companies simply apply the details to every external email. Missing details can lead the register court to impose penalty payments, and incomplete details are a frequent compliance finding. These obligations are separate from the website Impressum, which falls under the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG).