Applicants, addressees of an administrative act or other parties involved in an administrative procedure may inspect the files of the respective administrative procedure. Other persons must prove that they have a legitimate interest in inspecting the files.

The right to inspect files only applies to files relating to the administrative procedure and only to the extent that knowledge of these files is necessary to assert or defend the legal interests of the party involved.

Restrictions on access to files arise from statutory regulations or due to the legitimate interests of another person - in particular from tax secrecy, social secrecy, data protection and the protection of trade and business secrets.

The same requirements and framework conditions also apply to making a copy or scan of an administrative file.