Government and Administration Organisation Act
(GAOA)

¹ If there are any dif­fer­ences between the state­ments of the spe­cial­ist au­thor­it­ies or if the prin­cip­al au­thor­ity does not agree with the state­ments, it con­ducts a dis­cus­sion with the spe­cial­ist au­thor­it­ies with­in 30 days in or­der to elim­in­ate any dif­fer­ences. In this it may call on fur­ther au­thor­it­ies or spe­cial­ists.

² If the dif­fer­ences are suc­cess­fully elim­in­ated, the res­ult is bind­ing for the prin­cip­al au­thor­ity.

³ If the dif­fer­ences can­not be suc­cess­fully elim­in­ated, the prin­cip­al au­thor­ity de­cides; if con­sid­er­able dif­fer­ences ex­ist between ad­min­is­trat­ive units of the same de­part­ment, the prin­cip­al au­thor­ity shall in­struct the de­part­ment on how to re­solve the mat­ter. If sev­er­al de­part­ments are in­volved, they con­sult to reach an agree­ment. When ex­plain­ing their de­cision, they should ex­plain the dif­fer­ences in their po­s­i­tions.

⁴ The spe­cial­ist au­thor­it­ies con­cerned may de­fend their own point of view be­fore an ap­peals au­thor­ity even after hav­ing taken part in a pro­ced­ure to elim­in­ate dif­fer­ences.