In Germany, helping someone in an emergency is not just the right thing to do — it is a legal duty.
According to Section §323c of the German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch), you are obliged to provide assistance to a person in need, as long as it does not put you in serious danger yourself.Â
If you cannot help directly, you must call for help:
Section 323c
1. Failure to render assistance; obstruction of persons rendering assistance1) Whoever does not render assistance in the case of an accident or a common danger or emergency although it is necessary and can reasonably be expected under the circumstances, in particular if it is possible without substantial danger to that person and without breaching other important duties, incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or a fine.
2. Whoever obstructs a person who is rendering or wishes to render assistance to another person in such a situation incurs the same penalty.
German
(1) Wer bei Unglücksfällen oder gemeiner Gefahr oder Not nicht Hilfe leistet, obwohl dies erforderlich und ihm den Umständen nach zuzumuten, insbesondere ohne erhebliche eigene Gefahr und ohne Verletzung anderer wichtiger Pflichten möglich ist, wird mit Freiheitsstrafe bis zu einem Jahr oder mit Geldstrafe bestraft.
“StGB: Section 323c regulates failure to provide assistance.
Failure to provide assistance, legally standardised in § 323c StGB, is a so-called genuine omission offence. In contrast to the bogus omission offences, this is expressly regulated as an act of omission.
The purpose of the standard is to ensure a general duty of solidarity. Anyone who is able to provide help should do so if an accident occurs.
The penalty for failure to provide assistance is imprisonment of up to one year or a fine. It is therefore a misdemeanour and not a crime. The latter is a criminal offence, the minimum of which is punishable by imprisonment of one year or more. If the range of punishment is below this, there is talk of an offence. Paragraph 1 of Section 323c of the Criminal Code states:
Anyone who does not provide help in the event of an accident or common danger or need, although this is necessary and can be expected from the circumstances, in particular without significant personal risk and without violating other important obligations, will be punished with imprisonment for up to one year or with a fine.
There are numerous examples of failure to provide assistance. Classic situations are those in which a person has been injured as a result of an accident, and a passerby remains inactive without providing first aid or alerting rescue workers.
Failure to provide assistance can also be considered if witnesses of bodily harm fail to take the measures outlined above, although they would have been able to do so without further ado.”
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German laws and regulations The Bundesamt für Justiz publishes laws and regulations on the Gesetze im Internet website. The main site is in German, but there are translations available, with the following notice: “Translations of these materials into languages other than German are intended solely as a convenience to the non-German-reading public. Any discrepancies or differences that may arise in translations of the official German versions of these materials are not binding and have no
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