30 years of administrative experience: Project management certificates are recognized nationwide

The principle of self-binding of the administration states that the administration binds itself by consistently applying a uniform administrative practice insofar as it may not act differently in similar cases without objective reason (cf. BVerwGE 8, 4 (10). The administration would violate the principle of equality if it deviated from its consistently practiced administrative practice in individual cases without justifiable objective reason. In such cases, the citizen can assert that the administration violated Article 3 (1) of the Basic Law because it did not adhere to the otherwise practiced administrative practice in his case. The prerequisite for this is that a corresponding administrative practice has been developed. The nationwide recognition of continuing education courses practiced by the Federal-State Working Group on Genetic Engineering (LAG-Gentechnik) over the last 30 years must also be viewed against this legal background: The Federal-State Working Group on Genetic Engineering (LAG-Gentechnik) aims to harmonize the implementation of the Genetic Engineering Act nationwide. (See the LAG Genetic Engineering welcome page https://www.lag-gentechnik.de/ ). It is an association of the responsible supreme state authorities and the lead federal ministry to discuss issues in the areas of environmental, occupational health and safety, develop solutions and make recommendations (see above). As early as 1991, the LAG agreed that continuing education courses must comply with a nationwide standardized curriculum (website www.lag-gentechnik.de , documents, learning content for continuing education courses according to Section 15 Para. 2 Sentence 1 No. 3 GenTSV https://www.lag-gentechnik.de/Dokumente.html ). At the same time, a uniformly applicable content for the project manager certificate has been specified nationwide (website www.lag-gentechnik.de , continuing education, certificate of participation in a continuing education event (unfinished sample), sample certificate, https://www.lag-gentechnik.de/Fortbildung.html ). Furthermore, the federal states have agreed within the framework of the LAG to recognize the continuing education events recognized in the individual federal states nationwide against this background (2nd LAG meeting on October 15/16, 1991 in Mainz, p. 70 LAG resolutions). This is the administrative practice that has been followed nationwide for 30 years, in concrete terms as per Section 15, Paragraph 1, No. 3 and Paragraph 4, Sentences 1 and 2 of the GenTSV. Accordingly, it will continue to apply in the future that continuing education events recognized in one federal state must be accepted in the other federal states due to the so-called self-binding nature of the administration. In the past, the federal states have adhered to this even when the project manager certificate was obtained in another federal state in an English-language course, even though English-language courses had not previously been recognized in the state itself. This also applies to North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, where English-language courses have not been recognized to date. However, if a participant comes with recognized further training acquired in an English-language course in Hamburg, Hanover, Jena, or Munich, they can also become a project manager in North Rhine-Westphalia on this basis. North Rhine-Westphalia therefore recognizes the project manager certificate obtained in another federal state by way of what is known as the administrative self-binding principle. Neither the Genetic Engineering Act nor - due to the so-called principle of administrative self-binding - Section 15 (1) No. 3 and (4) Sentences 1 and 2 of the GenTSV (Genetic Engineering Ordinance) have a separate right to examine this criterion of expertise by the state authority in whose area the project manager or BBS actually carries out their activities.