Legal notice and mandatory details for mediators in Germany

No chamber, but decisions of your own

Lawyers, tax advisers or doctors copy their chamber, professional title and professional code almost word for word from a template. Mediators have no such template. You still have to provide a legal notice, because your website is commercial: it advertises a paid service. The only thing missing is the chamber line. You have to put together the rest yourself, and that is exactly where most mistakes happen.

A defective legal notice can draw a cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung), because the information obligations count as rules governing market conduct. A more common problem, though, is a different one: an unclear legal notice leaves open who is behind a service that promises confidentiality. That costs trust before the first meeting even takes place.

A sample legal notice, line by line

The following example applies to a certified mediator without a chamber profession who works as a sole trader. The right-hand column shows where each obligation comes from.

You may add voluntary memberships, for example in the Bundesverband MEDIATION, the BAFM or the BMWA, as long as it is clear that these are associations and not authorities. Academic degrees belong with your name if you are entitled to use them.

“Certified” in the legal notice: state it, but correctly

For regulated professions, § 5 (1) no. 5 DDG requires the statutory professional title and the state in which it was awarded. Whether “zertifizierter Mediator” is regulated in this sense has not been settled: the designation is governed by statute, but nobody awards it. The safe solution is to state it with its legal reference. That fulfils the obligation if it exists, and visitors can see what the title is based on.

• Only use the designation once you have completed the training course and all five supervised mediations and have received the certificate.
• Keep an eye on continuing education: if you do not prove 40 hours every four years, you lose the right to call yourself certified (§ 3 ZMediatAusbV). The word then has to come out of the legal notice too.
• Without certification, simply write “Mediatorin” or “Mediator” and name your training. That is permitted.

What the DL-InfoV also requires

The Dienstleistungs-Informationspflichten-Verordnung (Services Information Ordinance) applies to service providers and therefore also to mediators. Some of the details overlap with the legal notice, others are added. You can provide them on the website, which in practice is the simplest route.

Consumer arbitration and the person responsible for your blog

Under § 36 VSBG (Consumer Dispute Resolution Act), businesses with a website or standard terms must state whether they are willing or obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration body. Anyone who employed ten or fewer people on 31 December of the previous year is exempt. That applies to most mediation practices. A short sentence still does no harm, precisely because your service is itself a form of dispute resolution and visitors might otherwise wonder whether you belong to an arbitration body.

You can remove the link to the EU online dispute resolution platform: the platform was switched off on 20 July 2025, and the former obligation to link to it has gone.

If you write technical articles, for example on shared parenting arrangements (Wechselmodell), mediation in inheritance cases or conflicts in family businesses, or send out a newsletter, name a responsible person with address under § 18 (2) MStV (Interstate Media Treaty). In a sole practice, that is usually you.

Variant: lawyers and notaries who mediate

If you mediate as a lawyer, write a complete lawyer's legal notice: the competent Rechtsanwaltskammer (bar association) with address, the professional title “Rechtsanwältin” with the awarding state, the professional rules with a link, and the professional indemnity insurance under § 51 BRAO. Under § 7a BORA, you may call yourself a mediator if your training meets the requirements of § 5 (1) MediationsG. In the legal notice, it appears as an additional qualification, not as a separate profession with its own chamber. More on the lawyer's legal notice is in the article Mandatory details for lawyers in Germany.

The same applies to notaries, with an even stricter standard: the BGH (Federal Court of Justice) classified the equal-ranking double designation “Notar & Mediator” as misleading advertising (decision of 11 July 2022, NotZ(Brfg) 6/21), because mediation is already part of a notary's official duties.

Data protection, cookies and the contact form

Mediation enquiries often contain sensitive information: about children, health, assets or the other party to the conflict, who does not yet know about the enquiry. Your privacy policy under Art. 13 GDPR describes what happens to this data. It is better still if your form does not ask for it in the first place.

• A clear sentence above the form: “Please do not describe your conflict here yet; we will discuss it at the first meeting with everyone involved.”
• Encrypted transmission, hosting with a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR and no forwarding to private mailboxes.
• For online mediation, a video tool with a data processing agreement and servers in the EU, named in the privacy policy.
• Cookies and similar technologies only with consent, unless they are strictly necessary (§ 25 TDDDG). Local fonts, cookie-free analytics and maps that only load after a click often spare you the banner.

Since 28 June 2025, the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG, Accessibility Strengthening Act) has applied to e-commerce services for consumers, such as booking paid appointments online. Microenterprises that provide services are exempt (§ 3 (3) BFSG). For the typical mediation practice with an informational site and a contact form, there is therefore no obligation. A readable website still helps every party.

Common mistakes on mediation websites

Which content builds trust beyond the mandatory details is shown in What belongs on a firm website. What you may promote with your title, reviews and prices is covered in Advertising for mediators in Germany. If you are just starting out, you will find the basics in Self-employed as a mediator in Germany.