The legal status of PfP forces legally residing in Germany is in principle governed by Article 1 of the 19 June 1995 Agreement on the Status of the Armed Forces of 19 June 1995 (Agreement between The States Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty and the other States participating in the Partnership for Peace, Bundesgesetzblatt 1998 II P.1340). , and by NATO`s agreement on the status of the armed forces on all other issues on which the SOFA PFP does not contain derogatory provisions. Visiting force agreements under the Visits Act contain certain derogatory provisions that apply to forces in other countries; They also refer to other aspects of NATO`s agreement on the status of armed forces. Some items are rationed because a separate agreement between the UK and Germany explicitly limits the amount of cigarettes and tobacco, whisky, gin and coffee that a person can buy duty-free, which is why your NAAFI Ration Card must be filled every time you purchase these products. In order to ensure that the exempt allowance for these goods is not exceeded, they cannot be purchased tax-free in outdoor stores: for example, if you make your weekly purchases at REWE with an exempt order form, you cannot buy rationed items (for example. B a glass of coffee or a packet of cigarettes) as part of your tax-exempt “Big Shops”. Please remember that if rationed items are included in obtaining a larger purchase in tax exemption, then the tax on the total purchase will have to be refunded (yes, the total amount of the weekly shop!) not only on rationed items, and you may be subject to disciplinary action. SOFA is the basis of the legal status of military, American civilians and family members living in Germany by order. As part of an additional endorsement, employees in Germany also enjoy privileges that are not granted to other service members stationed in other European countries. These agreements concern the status, entry and departure of the host country, military training on the territory of the host country, justice, prosecutions, taxes, import and export laws, driving privileges, employment, the post office, school education, housing and much more. The NATO sofa and sofa agreement granted many privileges and immunities to the armed forces concerned. These include, for example, civil, administrative and criminal immunity, as well as social security, customs, tax and motor vehicle privileges. In addition, they contain provisions on the use of premises and the employment of German personnel on the ground by forces stationed in the country, in particular the additional agreement on THE SOFA.
For each mission abroad, the status of the Bundeswehr is governed by a bilateral or multilateral agreement with the host country. After the end of the Second World War, the presence of foreign armed forces in Germany was primarily based on the law imposed by the occupying powers. This regime ended on 5 May 1955 with the entry into force of the agreement on relations between the three powers and the Federal Republic of Germany, on 26 May 1952 (Bundesgesetzblatt 1955 II, p.303). On 23 October 1954, the Convention on the Presence of Foreign Armed Forces in the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesgesetzblatt 1955 p.253) between Germany and eight partners (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America) established a contractual basis for the presence of military forces stationed in Germany.
