German Imprint Generator
Build a sample imprint under section 5 DDG: legal form, register, VAT ID and supervisory body appear as you tick them. Runs in your browser.
This tool produces a sample for orientation. It is not legal advice and does not replace having your specific case reviewed by a lawyer.
Provider
Contact
Additional details
Consumer dispute resolution
Optional clauses
Still missing for a complete text: name or company, complete address, email address.
Preview
Review the text before you publish it. Which details are mandatory depends on your business, not on this form — and this tool does not know your business.
Guide: German Imprint Generator
An imprint is not a courtesy, it is a piece of information: who runs this site, and where can that person be reached when something needs sorting out? Section 5 of the German Digital Services Act requires these details from anyone running a website in the course of business — and “in the course of business” starts a good deal earlier than most people assume. A page that describes a service and gives a phone number already qualifies.
This generator assembles a sample from the details you enter. You pick the legal form, fill in the address and contact details, and tick what applies to your business: an entry in a register, a VAT identification number, a regulated profession with its chamber, a supervisory authority, a person with editorial responsibility under the German media treaty. Every tick adds exactly one section, and unticking it takes that section away again.
Two things set the result apart from the samples that have sat unchanged on the web for years. It does not point at the European Commission's online dispute resolution platform — that was shut down in July 2025, and the link has led nowhere since. And it does not ask for your tax number: what belongs in an imprint is the VAT identification number, not the number your tax office files you under.
Typical use cases
A trade business putting up its first website
A master craftsman with a chamber, a professional title and an awarding state needs more details than a plain online shop. The tick boxes walk through exactly those additions.
Moving from a partnership to a limited company
The new legal form brings the registering court, the register number and the managing directors into the imprint. The generator pre-selects the register entry to match the legal form you choose.
An association finally going online
An association register rather than a commercial one, a board rather than managing directors: the wording for the representation follows the legal form, so the text does not read like a filled-in form.
A blog on the company site
Anyone publishing editorial content regularly also needs a responsible person with an address under section 18 (2) of the German media treaty. A separate tick box adds that section.
Checking an old imprint
Assemble your details afresh and compare the result with what is on your site. The dead ODR reference in particular is still sitting in a surprising number of imprints.
How to use it
Choose the legal form
The choice controls how the representation is labelled and whether a register entry is pre-selected. A limited company has managing directors and a commercial register number, an association has a board and an association register number.
Enter the provider and contact details
Name or company, a complete address with street, postcode and town, and at least an email address. A post office box is not enough: what is required is an address at which documents can actually be served.
Tick the additional details
Register entry, VAT identification number, regulated profession, supervisory authority, indemnity insurance and editorial responsibility. For every tick, the matching fields appear directly underneath.
Decide on dispute resolution
You either declare that you do not take part in proceedings before a consumer arbitration board, or you name the competent body. Both are permissible; it is the statement itself that must not be missing.
Check it, then take it over
Read the preview line by line against your register extract and your trade registration. Then copy the text or download it as a file and paste it into your content management system.
What happens to your data
Your company details stay in your browser. The text is built on your device as you type and is never transmitted to a server, stored or analysed — this tool has no counterpart to send anything to. For an imprint that is not an academic distinction: the details you enter here include your private address if you work from home, and several widely used generators send exactly those inputs to their server to produce the text.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an imprint for a small site with no shop?
As soon as the site is run in the course of business, yes — and that does not start with selling. A page that describes a service and invites people to get in touch is already commercial. Purely private pages with no business connection are exempt, but the boundary is narrower than it sounds.
Why does the text not point at the EU ODR platform?
Because it no longer exists. The European Commission shut down the online dispute resolution platform on 20 July 2025. A reference to it now leads nowhere and is a liability rather than compliance. The statement about a consumer arbitration board under the German dispute resolution act is unaffected and stays in the text.
Does my tax number belong in the imprint?
No. Section 5 of the German Digital Services Act asks for the VAT identification number, where one exists. The tax number issued by the tax office is a different thing, it is not public, and it has no place in an imprint. That is why this tool offers no field for it.
Is a post office box enough as an address?
No. What is required is an address at which documents can actually be served. Anyone working from home will therefore usually have to give their home address. A business address with a provider that receives and forwards post can be an alternative — have that checked for your particular case.
Does this tool replace a review by a law firm?
No. It assembles a sample from your details and shows which sections usually belong in one. Which mandatory details your business actually owes depends on its legal form, its sector and what it does — and the tool knows none of that. Have the finished text reviewed before you publish it.