Navigation

Topics covered

In order to display an overview of all subject areas, select "Topics" at the top of the primary navigation bar.

Click on the desired topic in order to select a subject area.

After having selected a topic, you will either see further sub-topics that you can choose or you will be directed to the respective page with an overview of the topics and links to current articles and the latest information. The other main navigation buttons, "Ministry" and "Service", work the same way.

The breadcrumb navigation directly above the title of the page enables you to keep track of the location of the page displayed within the website structure. You will find the publication date at the end of the article.

Table of Contents

The "Table of Contents" page, accessible at the very bottom of the website, contains an overview of the www.bmel.de website. By clicking on the links shown in the website structure, you will be directed to the respective page.

Search

A magnifying glass icon can be found at the top right corner next to the primary navigation bar. Click on it to access the search function. You can use this to start a full-text search.

After you have conducted a search, you can use specific criteria to filter the search results. To do this, click on "Show filter". Three drop-down filters will appear which you can use to limit the search results by "Topics", "Format" and "Period". Only those filters and further selection options are displayed for which results exist.

The number of available search results is displayed with the search term being entered above the input field.

 You can enter one or more search terms. If you enter several search terms, you will find only those pages and files that contain all the search terms entered.

• By placing the word OR (OR link) between the search terms, you can expand the search to include hits which contain any of the search terms. Wildcards such as (*) for any sequence of letters and (?) for a single letter are also allowed in the search. The tilde symbol (~) at the end of a single word allows you to perform a fuzzy search.
• If you want to have all documents displayed, start the search without a search term.
• You can carry out a targeted search for phrases or complete sentences by placing the search phrase in quotation marks. You will then find only documents that contain exactly this phrase.
• By default, the search results are sorted by relevance.
• You can also use the search options to display the results list chronologically in ascending or descending order.

Keyboard navigation

You can operate this website via the keyboard. Most browsers will enable you to jump to all available links and functions by using the tab key.

Presentation

Browser compatibility

This website can be viewed optimally with the current standard browsers. Deviations in the display can occur in the case of older browsers.

Font size

As a rule, you can change the font size on the BMEL website via your browser by using the key combination "CTRL" and "+" or "-". In Firefox you can change the font size by going to "Settings" in the menu and then to "Contents" and "Fonts & Colours".

Publications and shopping cart

Offers

Publications are available to you for download in our publication list on www.bmel.de. If a shopping cart symbol appears on a publication, you can order this publication online in printed form. The publications are sent to you free of charge with carriage paid. The number of publications per order is limited.

You can use filters to restrict the search for publications by specific "topics". You can also use "Format" to narrow down your search to "Teaching material". Alternatively, you can click directly on "Teaching materials" at the top of the website in the service menu to go directly to the filtered list of publications.

Rights of use

The BMEL cannot transfer the right to use publications to you. However, you have the following options:

• you can set a link from your website to our publication on bmel.de. It is best to use the link to the respective page where the publication can be ordered or downloaded as a PDF file.
• You are welcome to refer to the BMEL publications in your publications, seminars, etc. with the appropriate source reference (please always indicate the status of the publication).
• You can, of course, also quote from our publications with appropriate source references - please always indicate the status here as well. You will always find the status in the imprint.
• Third parties have no rights to use the photos in BMEL publications. The photos may therefore not be copied and used elsewhere.
• Please use our contact form if you have any questions.

Cookies are necessary for the shopping cart.

In order to use the shopping cart for the online ordering service, you need to have activated the "accept cookies" setting in your browser. You will find further information on this in the privacy statement. (see also further below in the section on "Cookies").

Information about the ordering service

• You can add the publication to the shopping cart via the "Add to shopping cart" link and the shopping cart icon. You will find the shopping cart at the top right corner of the website.
• Adjust the number of copies to your needs, as appropriate, by changing the number.
• To remove an item from the shopping cart, please click on "delete" in the corresponding line.
• You can return to the list of publications and add further publications to the shopping cart. Your entries will be retained during your search for further brochures and you can return to your shopping cart at any time. The shopping basket is not emptied automatically until you close the browser or at the end of the ordering process.
• Once you have completed your order, click on the “Order” button and enter your customer details by filling in your personal data. Required fields are marked with an asterisk*. After you have checked your order overview and your personal details in the order form, click on "Order" to complete the process. You will then automatically receive a confirmation e-mail from the system.

Information about ordering

Even though we make every effort to execute your order as quickly as possible, delays in delivery cannot be ruled out.

If the shopping cart symbol is no longer displayed, the printed copies of the publication are already out of print and no further remaining copies are available. We kindly ask you to refrain from any written and telephone enquiries.

BMEL press service

We offer the “BMEL Press Service" newsletter on our website. This is sent out on a weekly basis and contains the BMEL's press releases. You can subscribe to it and you will receive the press service by e-mail, where you can also unsubscribe. Please note that both the registration for a newsletter and the cancellation always consist of two steps.

Videos

Our videos are mostly integrated via the BMEL YouTube channel. If you would like to play this video on our website, a message box will appear in which you confirm that a data transfer to YouTube or Google will take place during playback. Please see our privacy statement for further information in this regard. These videos can be played in all common browsers.

Video playback does not start automatically. Playback of the video is controlled via the operational controls - as well as stopping, volume control or full screen mode. Full-screen mode works best if you access the video by clicking on the video title and then enlarge. Click on ESC at any time to return to normal view.

PDF documents

In order to view documents in Portable Document Format (PDF), you need a programme, a so-called "PDF reader", in order to view PDF files, which allows you to display and print out PDF files on all major system platforms. There is a whole range of free PDF readers available, including some programmes which, as "free software", can be used, examined, modified and distributed by any user at will.

If a programme for viewing PDF files is installed on your computer, you can view the PDF documents directly in the browser by clicking on the link to the document.

If your Internet browser does not support the software or if you want to store the document directly on your hard drive, right-click on the PDF link and select "Save target or link as..." from the context menu. Then you can select the drive and folder on your computer where you want to save the file.

Not all of the documents offered for downloading are fully accessible. Many documents are old documents where the original document is no longer available. These documents are not post-edited. We have set ourselves the goal of offering accessible PDF files as far as is possible and appropriate in future, or to provide content in HTML format. You can see whether a document is already accessible by reading the corresponding description text. Files that have not yet been converted are indicated by the words "not fully accessible", and accessible/partially accessible files with the words "accessible". Should you require content from older documents in a form that is accessible to you, please get in touch with us using this contact form. We will try to make the content available to you by other means to the extent possible.

Print

The contents of the website are optimised for a printout. You can print out a page by going to "File" in the menu and then to "Print" (or via the key combination <Ctrl>+ <P> ).

Alternatively, you can click on the "Print page" button at the bottom left corner of our website.

Cookies

When visiting our website, cookies will be stored on your device. You will find further information about this in our privacy statement.

Encryption

The website www.bmel.de is provided via https.

Miscellaneous

We endeavour to ensure that this website meets the conditions of the Ordinance on Barrier-Free Information Technology (BITV) as far as possible and are continually optimising it. Please check our statement on accessibility for more information about this. Should you nevertheless encounter barriers on our pages, you can find a contact form here.

Released 03. Mar 2025 as article