Pursuant to the Atomic Energy Act, supreme authorities of the Länder are competent for the granting, withdrawal and revocation of licences for nuclear installations as well as for their regulatory oversight and inspection. The Länder authorities are supervised by and subject to the directives of the Federation (Bund), who issues ordinances and general administrative regulations. The federal control and supervision relate to the legality and expediency of the actions of the Länder. The competent supreme federal authority is the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

Since 1975 reportable events occurring in German nuclear facilities are to be reported by the licensee of the facility to the nuclear supervisory authorities according to the current version of the federal reporting criteria. All reportable events are recorded in a central register.

The obligation to report such events to the supervisory authorities was made legal and binding with theNuclear Safety Officer and Reporting Ordinance (AtSMV) of October 14, 1992 (published in the Federal Law Gazette BGBl. I p. 1766). This reporting procedure is aimed both at supervising the safety status of these plants and at enhancing the safety status within the regulatory oversight procedure with the help of the knowledge gained from the events reported. These reports serve as a vital basis to recognise potential deficiencies at an early stage and to prevent similar failures or to recognise similar failures in other facilities. Reportable events which have occurred are attributed to the different reporting categories according to the initial assessment by engineering judgement.

The operator of a nuclear facility notifies the competent Länder authority of a reportable event, which passes the report on to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS). BfS records and documents such reportable events. The competent Länder authority assesses the report submitted by the operator of the nuclear facility and, if necessary, orders remedial actions to be taken.

Independently of the regulatory reporting procedure, the operators of the respective nuclear facilities categorise reportable events according to the scale employed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES).

In case of significant events from nuclear facilities in other countries, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) informs the Federal Ministry for the Environment of reportable events on the international level. The Federal Ministry assesses such international events with the help of advisory bodies, in particular the expert organisation GRS.

The Incident Registration Centre operated by BfS is charged with recording and documentation of all events occurring in nuclear facilities (in particular nuclear power plants) which are reported by the licensees to the competent Länder regulatory authority and in turn forwarded to BfS. The Incident Registration Centre at BfS assesses these events on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The BfS supports BMU in its task to inform the general public of reportable events in regular intervals by publishing such information on the internet. In addition to the quarterly updated reports BfS prepares yearly reports on reportable events, categorised by nuclear power plants, research reactors and nuclear fuel cycle facilities. Reports from previous years as well as further information on the reporting procedure are presented within this internet site as well. Further on, maps indicating the sites of nuclear facilities which are subject to the obligation to report as well as information on the status of such facilities are given.