Excavation; application for a preliminary decision

You can have certain questions regarding the permissibility of your project clarified by a preliminary decision before applying for an excavation permit. This is binding for the subsequent excavation permit procedure.

You can apply for a preliminary decision on individual issues relating to your excavation project. You must submit this application before applying for the excavation permit. The subject of the preliminary decision can only be the subject of the subsequent excavation permit procedure.

The preliminary decision is an anticipated part of the excavation permit itself. In the subsequent decision on the excavation permit, the lower excavation authority is bound by the preliminary decision insofar as it contains a regulation on the project.

• current cadastral map extract
• Site plan

  (M 1 : 1,000 or 1 : 5,000)

• Construction drawings
• Building description (form see under "Forms")
• any supporting documentation

  Depending on the excavation applied for, further documents may be required. This is particularly the case if an environmental impact assessment is to be carried out.

The requested preliminary decision will only be granted if the project requires approval. Furthermore, the excavation must not conflict with any public law regulations that are to be examined in the approval procedure.

A preliminary decision may only be issued for individual questions relating to the excavation project. It can therefore not be issued to the effect that compliance with all public law regulations is established.

If you do not receive the requested preliminary decision, you can file an administrative court action. This must be directed at the granting of the requested preliminary decision.

An objection is not possible.

Written submission

• Whether the neighbors have to be involved before submission depends on whether an environmental impact assessment has to be carried out. If the latter is the case, you do not have to involve the neighbors yourself, as they have the opportunity to comment as part of the environmental impact assessment. Otherwise, you must first submit the excavation plan to the neighbors of the excavation site for approval. Any consent must be given in writing.
• Submit the application for a preliminary decision to the responsible lower excavation authority (district offices and independent cities), if necessary after involving the neighbors.
• Submit the application in triplicate using the forms provided.
• An oral application is not possible.
• The lower excavation authority will decide on the application, if necessary after carrying out an environmental impact assessment.
• If the lower excavation authority is not itself a municipality, it will involve the municipality.

Digital submission

Digital submission of applications for preliminary decisions is not yet possible throughout Bavaria. When a location is selected, the link to the online procedure is displayed if it is already offered.

• The application can be submitted digitally using the online assistant, if necessary after involving the neighbors.
• The predefined forms are replaced by the queries in the online assistant.
• The excavation plan is uploaded to the online assistant in electronic form (files in PDF format).
• Signatures are replaced by authentication using the "BayernID" user account or "My company account".

A preliminary decision is particularly useful for clarifying individual problematic aspects of an excavation.