Permanent venues and temporary events fall under different areas of law

The differing requirements mainly result from the structure of German building law: the federal states’ assembly venue ordinances regulate certain structures and how they are operated, whereas temporary events in public space are often subject to several areas of law.

Permanent venues: requirements can be standardised

For a permanently built assembly venue, key safety requirements can be standardised. They include visitor capacities, escape route widths, exits, technical safety equipment and operator duties.

These requirements can already be taken into account when the structure is planned and approved.

Temporary events in public space

A town festival, Christmas market or fair on public streets and squares is fundamentally different. The site is used only temporarily. Stalls, stages, barriers and technical installations change the original use of the space. At the same time, requirements arising from local residents’ traffic, public infrastructure and neighbouring buildings often remain in place.

Which areas of law may be relevant

For such events, these areas of law may be relevant in particular:

• Police and public order law
• Road and road traffic law
• Building regulations and occupational health and safety law

Which requirements apply in detail depends on the federal state and on local conditions.

No exemption for open air

Certain outdoor assembly venues are also covered by assembly venue law. There is no general exemption for open-air events.

Different levels of detail

The main challenge lies in how differently the safety requirements are spelled out. For assembly venues that fall within the rules, numerous structural and operational requirements are set directly. For temporary events in public space, many requirements have to be determined, agreed and justified on a professional basis for each event.

This allows adaptation to the actual conditions, but can also lead to different planning procedures and requirements.

Conclusion

Different legal bases do not mean that lower safety requirements are meant to apply to temporary events. They show rather that the existing rules have different regulatory subjects. The question of comparable, transparent minimum requirements for temporary events therefore remains relevant, both professionally and in terms of legal policy.

Context: research as of 8 November 2026. General guidance on the structure of the rules; no comparison of the rules of individual federal states and no assessment of any individual case. Not legal advice; in each case the competent authorities and professional planning decide. No function, response time or certification of MOVETOS OPS is promised.