a) There must be a permanent collection of objects of cultural, historical or generally scientific nature [mere buildings, castles etc. without objects, or commercial info areas do not fit];

b) there must be physical access to the collection for the general public [specialized technical fairs, with restricted access conditions do not qualify];

c) commercial activities [sales exhibitions, for-profit-organisation] must not form the majority of activities of the institution [this excludes art shops, commercial galleries, art fairs];

d) there must be a space exclusively devoted to (the) exhibition purpose(s) [this excludes corridors of the town hall featuring showcases in addition to leading the way to offices; sculpture's symposia, works of art integrated into buildings or city ensembles etc.].

(a) There is no general 'Museums Act', applicable to all German museums or all those owned by public bodies, but there are, of course, a number of legislation issues (these are scattered over many individual laws) relevant also to museums - for example, labour relations law, taxes etc. - or valid for certain museums: some museums at 'national' level or at high ranking level at 'Bundesland' are formed based on an explicit law that establishes them as public corporate body, foundation or the like (Stiftungsgesetz). As a foundation at national level, this applies, ie., to the SMB State Museums of Berlin of the SPK Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), to the Foundation (Stiftung) Post und Telekommunikation, to the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Bonn), to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (GNM) Nürnberg, the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (RGZ) (Mainz), the Museen der Stiftung Weimarer Klassik, as a foundation in one 'Land' i.e. to the LMTA (Landesmuseum für Technik und Arbeit) Mannheim, the Freilichtmuseum Cloppenburg, etc. (Parallely, similar foundations do exist for public castles and gardens: in Sachsen-Anhalt, in Sachsen, 'Prussian' ones in Berlin/Brandenburg (SPSG Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten), .... In other Federal States, the public castles and gardens are administered by an administration (department) of the relative State's Ministry, eg. in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Sachsen.) The 'Kulturraumgesetz' (Law to regulate geographical coverage of cultural service) in Sachsen is a special case, specifying i.a. the financing of museums, theatres etc. through a mixture of Land and community financing, split between the receiving cultural institutions according to a certain rule.

(b) For archaeology and monument protection, the picture is different in that in each Bundesland (but not at Federal level) a specific law governing these matters does exist.

(c) In order to fully understand this legal situation and the German museum (and cultural) scene in general, it is necessary to recall that Germany is a federal state, composed of 16 Bundesländer. The Federal government has a number of responsibilities, quite a few others are in shared responsibility of the Federal government and that of the Länder, and some responsibilities are exclusively with each individual Land in its own responsibility (such as, eg., school organization). The area of culture mostly belongs to these latter (except cultural representation of Germany as a whole abroad). In this field, joint regulations can only derive from contract between the Länder, with or without inclusion of the Federal government. By such instrument, a number of institutions receive financial assistance from the Federal government without being under its jurisdiction, or are funded in a joint venture of all Länder and the Federal government. (The most prominent example of the latter is the SPK - Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, est. 1957, the biggest cultural complex in Germany, comprising the 16 State Museums Berlin with their 2 associated research institutes Rathgen Forschungslabor and IfM, 2 independent research institutes, 1 'State archive' and 1 'State library'.)

(d) Owing to this situation, museum counseling bodies (Landesstellen, Museumsämter, ..) attached one way or another to the state cultural administration of several Bundesländer (http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/ifm/e/list.htm) carry the main burdon of advice and assistance to museums. It is also owing to the federal structure that in Germany, there do exist 15 regional museum associations (Museumsverbände) which are independent of each other, covering the area of their respective Bundesländer (in the case of Niedersachsen and Bremen, 2 Bundesländer are covered by one and the same regional association; in a second case, the Bundesland Nordrhein-Westfalen has 2 regional organizations; 1 Bundesland has no regional museum association). The nation-wide German Museum Association (DMB - Deutscher Museumsbund) is not a federation or cumulation of these 15 but a separate organisation - as is ICOM Germany - with its own membership status (so that many individuals or museums are members of 2 or even 3 associations).