Superior Regional Authorities

The Länder authorities are divided into levels in the same way as the administration of the Federation. Superior regional authorities are the Minister President, whose office is called the State Chancellery in the Länder other than Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg, and the Länder Ministries (the Senate Administrations in Berlin and Bremen and the Specialist Offices in Hamburg).

Higher Regional Authorities

As subordinate authorities (higher regional authorities), central authorities for special activities are subordinate to one of the Ministries. These include the following Länder offices: Criminal Police, Protection of the Constitution, Statistics and Data Processing, Road Construction, Topographic Surveying, and in most cases, the Regional Centres for Political Education.

Intermediate Regional Authorities

With the exception of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia, as well as the city-states Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg, intermediate regional authorities have been set up to take care of general administration matters. These are called governmental presidencies or district governments, and are headed by a chief official. They are in charge of the various lower regional authorities at the district level: district administrations and/or district authorities, chiefs of the police, trade supervision offices, school supervisory authorities, road construction offices, health offices, forestry offices.
The Regional Courts of Audit (Landesrechnungshöfe) fulfil the same function in the Länder as does the Federal Court of Audit (Bundesrechnungshof) for the Federal Administration.

Legal Institutions

Numerous institutions with public responsibilities, which are under the supervision of the Länder Governments, do not form part of the direct public administration. They have been set up on the basis of a law and membership is obligatory for the respective professions. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Chambers of Handicrafts, for example, draw up regulations for vocational training, carry out final examinations of trainees and apprentices, appoint experts and issue advisory reports for authorities and courts. Legal institutions also include the statutory health insurers, the regional insurance institutions, the Medical Boards and Chambers of Lawyers.