Electronic Registry: eWpG — German Electronic Securities Act

On May 5th, 2021, the committee meeting, chaired by Katja Hessel (FDP), and the coalition factions of the CDU / CSU and SPD, as well as the FDP faction, voted in favor of the federal government’s bill (19/26925) to introduce electronic securities in Germany and has been forwarded to the Bundesrat (approval expected on May 28, promulgation and entry into force expected in June/July).

Hence, we considered it convenient to collect the Electronic Securities Act (eWpG) registry implications revising the law in English.

General implications

1. Technology agnostic: The electronic issuance of securities should also be made possible outside the use of blockchain technology and comparable distributed ledger technologies (DLT).

2. The currently mandatory embodiment of securities by certificate (i.e., classic paper format) will be abandoned: In the future, issuers will have the right to choose whether they wish to issue securities by certificate or by electronic means. This is neither a substitution of the classical paper certificate issue nor is it intended to create a security of its own kind with the electronic security (functional approach). It is only an extension of the usable forms and not an extension of the “nummerus clausus” of the securities.