Länderöffnungsklausel

07:56 Sep 22, 2014 

"Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by central government in the same way as any statute."

I would really like to see them trying that on the Scots :)

It's just one clause in one piece of legislation and it's only, as you also say, about the minimum requirements. To provide some background: Some German states want to use the 10H formula: This means the next building should be away from the turbine by ten times the height of it (basically, that would mean some states could hardly have any wind turbines). Other federal regulations on wind energy are still in place, however, and the Länder can't do anything about them.

I believe there was another one of these clauses in the Lebenspartnerschaftsgesetz.

The US (as a federal system) doesn't have these clauses, as far as I know: Article 6 of the US Constitution has been interpreted in a way that prevents states from enacting laws that are in conflict with federal legislation. The marijuna issue illustrates that: State legislation is simply "tolerated" by the federal government. Don't know about the political implications in the UK.

Have a nice day!

07:28 Sep 22, 2014 

"Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. It is a form of decentralization. Devolved territories have the power to make legislation relevant to the area.
Devolution differs from federalism in that the devolved powers of the subnational authority may be temporary and ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure unitary. Legislation creating devolved parliaments or assemblies can be repealed or amended by central government in the same way as any statute.
Federal systems, or federations, differ in that state or provincial government is guaranteed in the constitution. Australia, Canada, India, and the United States have federal systems, and have constitutions (as do some of their constituent states or provinces). They also have territories, with less power and authority than a state or province. Non-English-speaking federations include Mexico, Germany, and Switzerland." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution
So, I am wrong. Maybe 'assignment of powers' is appropriate? http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1609/1/WRAP_Lockwood_twerp56

20:07 Sep 21, 2014 

To your second point about devolution: Maybe I'm too "tainted" by the recent news about the Scottish independence referendum, but to me, devolution means something (such as power) is transferred from central government to regional bodies. It's not a quick "interlude" and it's not something you just reverse either. And it's something that is firmly passed down.

In contrast, the Länderöffnungsklausel is a temporary and optional measure. It is only valid up until 2015 and it's up to the states to decide whether to draft any bill at all. If they don't, the federal regulation will remain in place.

PS: I do like your explanation! "to draft and enact legislation specifying minimum distances between wind turbines and areas used for residential purposes."

How about:
"One clause that plays an important role in increasing wind energy use across Germany is the Länderöffnungsklausel, which leaves it up to the Länder/states to adopt the federal or enact their own legislation on minimum distances between wind turbines and areas used for residential purposes."?

I believe you are correct with "residential".

20:00 Sep 21, 2014 

"The outcome is usually not pretty."

Agree.

"I don’t think we should be going overboard in trying to be descriptive."

Partially agree. If you're interested in wind energy, but you can't read German and the list of English references talking about certain German regulations is extremely short, then you have a huge problem. In this case, better explain too much than too little.

"If the German expression doesn’t spell it out properly[...]"

Maybe, we misunderstand each other here: To me, Länderöffnung does spell it out (see below).

The difficulty I had with your suggestion was that any of these Acts may contain thousands of "land use provisions". But the sentence says that one of these clauses is much more important than any of the others. If you'd just say the "land use provision plays an important role", people may be confused as to what provision you mean.

So, the least you need to include is "Länderöffnung" somewhere. I agree that there might not be a readily available term out there, so "clause that allows each German state to introduce its own piece of legislation" or some similar description may work.

19:41 Sep 21, 2014 

Thank you as well!

I know lines are a bit blurred here. After all, what are you going to do with

Gujarat State
http://www.gsrdc.com/

Amazonas state
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ve-z.html

or the United Mexican States
http://www.trife.gob.mx/en/consultations/political-constitut...

In addition to your meaning, Oxford's 2.1 on "state":
"An organized political community or area forming part of a federal republic."

M-W:
"one of the constituent units of a nation having a federal government"

So, the prerequisite for calling something a "state" if it's not a nation is that there exists a federal government - a requirement that Germany meets as well.

Interestingly enough, the Montevideo Convention says in Article 2:
"The federal state shall constitute a sole person in the eyes of international law."

Encyclopedia Britannica:
"In such countries as [...], the term state (or a cognate) also refers to political units, not sovereign themselves, but subject to the authority of the larger state, or federal union"
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/563762/state

EB's entry on Germany has Länder italicized and states in parentheses.

18:51 Sep 21, 2014 

I do not normally translate 'Bundesland' or 'Land' as 'state'. The FRG is a state. I am not a lawyer but my understanding is that the term 'state' has a specific definition in international law. Under the Montevideo Convention, "The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." Many definitions go beyond this but there is neither time nor space to go down that road here.
'Devolution of powers' from Federal to Bundesland level is, I contend, correct. The power to enact a Bundesland law or adopt the Federal law is devolved from Federal to Bundesland level.

18:04 Sep 21, 2014 

as to what it actually denotes without additional research. That’s a recurring translation problem. You might try to remedy that. Nothing wrong with that per se. But the attempt is bound to fail, in my opinion, if you try to have a single (but unwieldy) term in the target language reflect all the imputed nuances of the source term. The outcome is usually not pretty. Why be more catholic than the Pope? If the German expression doesn’t spell it out properly, that’s most likely for practical reasons - the impossibility to fit the concept into a short phrase that doesn’t leave people shaking their heads when they read it. I don’t think we should be going overboard in trying to be descriptive...

17:31 Sep 21, 2014 

Not Eröffnung, but Öffnung. Basically, means "open up" (like in Marktöffnung = market liberalisation [even if that term shouldn't be used here] = open up opportunities for private companies).

Länderöffnung = Entscheidung offen für die Länder = Länder können entscheiden

PS: It's kind of like the antonym to the Supremacy Clause in US law. It's about concurrent powers. Was desperately trying to find something short and sweet here, but have come up empty so far.

17:27 Sep 21, 2014 

Everywhere I have looked, whenever Eroeffnungs- is found it is generally translated as 'inaugural' and Klausel as article or provision. If that is the case and it involves more than spacing, then perhaps Laender inaugural article for wind turbine placement, or something along those lines. But, I realize this is not my field.

17:17 Sep 21, 2014 

Suggested answers

Opening clause doesn't tell me anything. An escape clause is used to allow opting out of certain contract provisions if circumstances change. A liberalisation clause either refers to market liberalisation or to altering contract terms without having to draft a new contract.

Also, it's not about the space between turbines, but about the space between turbines and other buildings. I am not sure you can call that "devolution" because states don't have to make their own laws - they can adopt the federal one or introduce their own version. Just calling it "land use" wouldn't work for me because it doesn't say anything about "Öffnung" and it could be misconstrued (please see my reference below; "land use" is "Flächennutzung" and isn't the term in question).

In essence, the Länderöffnungsklausel is a clause which/that allows each German state to introduce its own legislation on how far apart wind turbines have to be from other developed areas.

Something along those lines.

PS: Öffnung refers to "It's up to the states whether to draft their own law or leave it up to the federal government to stipulate requirements".

17:06 Sep 21, 2014 

Länder <> states
I'm really puzzled as to why someone would want to use the German word here? The concept of federal government + states is not exclusive to the US - Mexico has it, Brazil has it, and India has it too. In Switzerland, the states are called cantons, whereas in most European countries, it's about regions (Spain, France) because of the different government structures across Europe: föderal<>zentralistisch.

I'd also like to refer you to the discussion at http://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/government_polit...

Essentially, the German system does resemble the American one, so why not use a term that most English speakers are already familiar with? Why introduce a German one if it doesn't really add anything?

17:03 Sep 21, 2014 

First off, Clive and Donald, you may not specialise in this area, but I'd still appreciate your input to what I have to say below.

Christina, I will try to make it as brief as possible. Don't hesitate to ask if there is something not clear enough.

Länderöffnungsklausel in a nutshell
Mit der Neuregelung im Baugesetzbuch können die Bundesländer bis Ende 2015 eigene Gesetze erlassen, die Mindestabstände zwischen Windenergieanlagen und anderen baulichen Nutzungen festschreiben. Wie groß diese Mindestabstände sind und welche Auswirkungen dies auf bestehende Ausweisungen in Flächennutzungs- und Regionalplänen hat, dürfen die Länder im Rahmen der Länderöffnungsklausel selbst regeln.
http://www.topagrar.com/news/Energie-Energienews-Bundestag-s...

14:10 Sep 21, 2014 

I am in no way a specialist in this area or familiar with the legislation but it seems to me that the intent of the provision quoted here by the Asker is to devolve powers to the Bundesländer to draft and enact legislation specifying minimum distances between wind turbines and areas used for residential purposes. ('Spacing' is inappropriate here, as I believe that refers to the distance between two turbines.) Maybe something like 'devolved Bundesländer powers clause'?

00:46 Sep 21, 2014 

Better turbine spacing for large wind farms -- ScienceDaily
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110120111332.htm
"They indicate that large wind farm operators are going to have to space their turbines ... to calculate ...

00:38 Sep 21, 2014 

I have found Eroeffnungsklausel here translated as 'article' or 'provision'. Laender can be used , I think, with an explanation of the concept in a footnote. Escape clause is Befreiungsklausel. It should of course be interpreted in context. However, having said that, I am way out of my league here on this. Just trying to help.

14:15 Sep 20, 2014 

Bitte entschuldigen Sie, dass ich diese "unqualifizierte" Frage gestellt habe. Ich war selbst noch mit der Recherche beschäftigt; beim nächsten Mal spezifiziere ich es vorher genauer bzw. korrekt.

Vielen Dank für die bisherigen Vorschläge!

Hier der Hintergrund des gesuchten Wortes:

"Damit wird eine Länderöffnungsklausel in § 249 Abs. 3 Baugesetzbuch eingefügt, die den Bundesländern bestimmte Regelungen für Mindestabstände zwischen Windenergieanlagen und Wohnnutzungen ermöglicht."

13:55 Sep 20, 2014 

I like the idea of "liberalisation" - I think that comes closer to the idea behind the concept than any "opening clause".

11:43 Sep 20, 2014 

Mit Brigitte. Man könnte es vielleicht "liberalisation of wind energy regulations" nennen or "liberalisation clause to the wind energy regulations".

10:46 Sep 20, 2014 

http://www.bgbl.de/banzxaver/bgbl/start.xav?startbk=Bundesan...[%40attr_id%3D%27bgbl114s0954.pdf%27]__1411209463626
Das Konzept ist wohl im Ausland nicht gängig, weshalb man auch Konstruckte wie "Laender opening clause" findet. Möglicherweise muss erklärt werden, worum es geht.

10:43 Sep 20, 2014 

Erst einmal selbst recherchieren und klären, wonach genau man fragt. Wer mit der Aussage beginnt: "Ich nehme an ..." kann nicht erwarten, dass andere auf der Basis dieser Unsicherheit eine Antwort suchen.
Der Aspekt mag für die Frage nebensächlich sein, aber ich habe gerade feststellt, dass man bei www.google.de rasch eine Antwort darauf findet, um welche Aspekte der Windenergie es geht: