Self-Determination Act (Germany)

The law on self-determination with regard to gender entry (German: Gesetz über die Selbstbestimmung in Bezug auf den Geschlechtseintrag, SBGG), unofficially also called the Self-Determination Act (German: Selbstbestimmungsgesetz) is intended to make it easier for transgender, intersex and non-binary people in Germany to have their gender entry and first name changed.

A draft bill of the law has been available since May 2023. Following detailed changes, it was passed as a government draft on 23 August 2023. Further changes were made before it was adopted by the German Bundestag on 12 April 2024 and passed the German Bundesrat on 17 May 2024. The law was promulgated in the Bundesgesetzblatt on 21 June 2024 and came into force on 1 November 2024.

The law stipulates that the gender entry and first name can be changed by simply making a declaration at the Standesamt; a three-month waiting period must be observed beforehand. Medical measures are neither regulated nor mandated by the SBGG.

With the entry into force of the Self-Determination Act on 1 November 2024, the Transsexuals Act (German: Transsexuellengesetz, TSG), which prescribes a complex expert procedure and judicial recognition of the changes for changing the gender entry and name, has been repealed. It also replaced the main provisions introduced by the Third gender law, which previously only allowed intersex people to legally identify as a third, non-binary gender.