Generate a legally compliant imprint (Impressum) for your website. Required by German, Austrian, Swiss, and EU law for commercial websites. 100% free, no signup required.
The legal obligations behind Germany's Impressumspflicht — and why they reach further than most people expect.
German law has required websites to publish a legal notice since 2007. Under §5 of the Telemediengesetz (TMG) — Germany's Telemedia Act — every commercial website operated by a German entity or targeting German users must provide an easily accessible, complete, and accurate Impressum. This is not a recommendation. It is a statutory obligation, and German enforcement authorities and courts take it seriously. The requirement applies whether your site is a large e-commerce platform, a freelance portfolio, a SaaS product, or a monetized blog.
Austria and Switzerland have parallel obligations. Austria's E-Commerce-Gesetz (ECG) §5 requires a disclosure (Offenlegungspflicht) for all commercial websites operated from Austria. Switzerland's Code of Obligations (OR) and the Preisbekanntgabeverordnung impose similar identification duties on commercial operators. The three DACH countries collectively represent a significant segment of the German-speaking internet, and each has its own legal basis for requiring a legal notice on commercial sites.
At the European level, the EU e-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC) Article 5 requires all information society service providers conducting commercial activity to disclose their name, geographic address, contact details, and trade register information. This directive has been transposed into national law across all EU member states, meaning the obligation is not limited to DACH countries. If your website provides a service or sells products to EU residents and earns any revenue in the process, EU law requires you to identify yourself clearly.
The definition of "commercial" under German TMG is deliberately broad. Courts have held that a website is commercial if it generates any income, is used to promote professional services, serves a business purpose, or even simply runs advertising. A blogger who places Google AdSense on their site is running a commercial website. A freelancer whose portfolio site mentions their rates is running a commercial website. An affiliate marketer linking to Amazon is running a commercial website. The line is not "are you a registered company" but rather "could someone reasonably interpret this as economic activity." If yes, you need an Impressum.
German competition lawyers (known as Abmahnanwälte) actively search for websites with missing or defective Impressum pages and send cease-and-desist letters (Abmahnungen). These letters demand immediate compliance and payment of legal fees. Fines for a missing Impressum can reach €50,000. The risk is not theoretical — thousands of German websites receive Abmahnungen every year over Impressum defects alone.
Any website operated from Germany, Austria, or Switzerland. Any EU-based commercial information society service. Any site earning income from German or EU visitors — including blogs with ads, affiliate sites, freelance portfolios, SaaS products, and online stores.
Abmahnung cease-and-desist letters with legal fee demands, competition law fines up to €50,000, regulatory authority sanctions, and reputational damage with German and EU users who expect legal transparency from commercial websites.
Full TMG §5 compliance, reduced legal exposure, increased trust with German-speaking visitors, ability to accept advertising and affiliate partnerships without compliance flags, and a professional foundation for commercial operations in the EU.
Every required field under German TMG §5, Austrian ECG §5, and the EU e-Commerce Directive.
Your legal name as an individual, or the full registered business name of the company. Abbreviations are not acceptable. The name must match official registration documents.
Street name and number, postal code, city, and country. A PO box is not sufficient — German law requires a physical, reachable address that allows for legal correspondence and in-person contact.
A working email address that can receive legal and business correspondence. Must be actively monitored. Courts have upheld that an email address is a minimum requirement even if other contact methods are also listed.
A telephone number where the operator can be reached quickly. Courts have differed on whether a phone number is strictly mandatory alongside email, but including one is strongly recommended for full TMG §5 compliance.
If you are registered for VAT (Umsatzsteuer), your Umsatzsteuer-Identifikationsnummer (USt-IdNr) must appear in the Impressum. This applies to most businesses and many freelancers operating commercially in Germany.
If your business is registered in a trade or company register (Handelsregister), you must disclose the register name and your registration number (HRB/HRA number). GmbHs, UGs, AGs, and registered merchants all need this.
Regulated professions — lawyers, doctors, architects, tax advisors, engineers — must disclose their professional chamber (Kammer), the applicable professional regulations (Berufsordnung), and the country in which they hold their professional title.
EU Regulation 524/2013 requires all EU-based online traders to include a link to the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform (https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr) and state whether they are willing to participate in dispute resolution.
Under §55(2) of the German Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (RStV), websites with journalistic or editorial content must name a person responsible for content (Verantwortlicher im Sinne des §55 Abs. 2 RStV) with a German address.
Everything you need to know about the Impressum and legal notice requirements
Most Impressum generators are German-only or charge for multi-country support. FreeTOS is free, covers multiple jurisdictions, and works in English.
| Feature | FreeTOS | eRecht24 | LegalMonster |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (German only) | €9/mo+ |
| Multiple Countries | Yes | Limited | No |
| English Supported | Yes | German only | Yes |
| No Signup Required | Yes | No | No |
| PDF Download | Free | Paid | Paid |
FreeTOS generates a complete Impressum / legal notice document for German, Austrian, Swiss, EU, UK, and other jurisdictions with no registration required. For large enterprises requiring legal review and ongoing compliance monitoring, professional legal counsel is always recommended.
German law requires the Impressum to be "easily recognizable, directly reachable, and permanently available" — here's what that means in practice.
The most common and legally accepted placement. Add an "Impressum" or "Legal Notice" link in your website footer on every page. It must be reachable within two clicks from the homepage — German courts have ruled that burying it in submenus is insufficient.
Label the link exactly "Impressum" if targeting German users — using unusual labels like "About Us" to house the Impressum content can be treated as insufficiently accessible.
Create a dedicated page at a predictable URL such as /impressum, /imprint, or /legal-notice. Download the HTML file from FreeTOS, upload it to your server, and ensure the footer link points to this page. The page should load quickly and without paywalls or login prompts.
Keep the URL stable — changing it without redirects can create compliance gaps if external links reference the old URL.