If the proceedings are terminated without a guilty verdict, the defendant is not be required to pay costs.
In the event of an acquittal, the Federal Government is obliged to make a contribution to the defendant’s defense costs. These costs include, on the one hand, cash expenses and, on the other hand, a lump-sum contribution to the costs of the defense.
With regard to cash expenses, however, only those costs are reimbursed that are necessary and were actually spent by the defendant (e.g. copies of files).
The lump-sum contribution is determined by the complexity and scope of the defense, but certain (low) maximum contributions are set by law – for example, the maximum lump-sum contribution in district court proceedings is only EUR 1,000.00, in proceedings before a single regional court judge it is EUR 3,000.00, before the regional court as a court of lay assessors it is EUR 5,000.00, and in jury trials it is EUR 10,000.00. These lump sums, which are maximum amounts (the maximum sum is usually not awarded (!)), unfortunately do not cover the actual defense costs, which is questionable from a legal policy point of view.
