Book review: Recht und Praxis der Widerspruchsausschüsse in der Sozialversicherung
| DOI | 10.1177/1388262720945403 |
| Author | Carolin Duda |
| Published date | 01 September 2020 |
| Date | 01 September 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Armin Ho
¨land and Felix Welti (eds.), Recht und Praxis der Widerspruchsausschu
¨sse in der
Sozialversicherung. Bestandsaufnahme und Wirkungsanalyse, Hans-Bo
¨ckler-Stiftung, 2019, ISBN 978-
3-86593-324-9.
Reviewed by: Carolin Duda, German University of Adminsitrative Sciences, Speyer/Germany
DOI: 10.1177/1388262720945403
The Objection Committees arelargely unknown institutions, although they are an integral part of the
German socialinsurance system. With more than 90 percent of Germansbeing covered by at least one
branch of the social insurancesystem, nearly every German citizen could potentially be addressedby
an onerous administrativedecision of their social insurance institution. These onerous administrative
acts can only be contested by entering an objection, thus initiating a so-called ‘‘preliminary proce-
dure’’. This procedure leads, in the first stage, to an internal review through the authority (redress
procedure) and, in the second stage, to a final decision through the ObjectionCommittee. However,
the second stage is only initiated if the authority maintains its decision and does not remedy the
appeal. The composition as well as the functioningof the Objection Committee is determined by the
self-governing bodies of the respective social insurance institutions in their statutes
There are yet to be in-depth assessments of the Opposition Committees, likely due to their
perceived inconspicuousness. Nevertheless, with more than 800 000 objections every year, of
which about 400 000 ultimately reach the appeal committees, the latter play an important role
in social security. Therefore, Appeal decisions form a link between administrative and judicial
proceedings as claimants can lodge an appeal against the Objection Committee’s final decision
with the competent Social Court within a month.
From 2014 to 2016, the Hans Bo¨ckler Foundation supported the research project ‘‘Objection
Committees in Social Security - Assessment and Impact Analysis’’ of the Halle Centre for Social
Research and the University of Kassel/Germany. The study mainly analyses a questionnaire addres-
sing members of the objection committees. Furthermore, the statutes of all social insurance bodies
and almost 200 court files as well as scientific literature, case law and expert discussions with judges
and committee members have been analysed. The research project had two objectives. On the one
hand, the study aimed providing insights into the internal organisation and functioning of the
objection committees as well as into their members and their respective perceptions about the impact
of their activities. On the other hand, the study intendedto contribute to the rather weakly represented
research field of sociology of law, which has so far been mostly absent in the larger context of social
security law. The main research focusses were access to legal protection, the respective requirements
leading to a social court proceeding, the interaction between professional and voluntary members of
the committees, and the forms of dispute resolution in social insurance administrative proceedings.
A total of eleven authors have contributed to the study.
Bo¨ttcher put a special emphasize on the professional and voluntary members of the opposition
committees. Out of 978 respondents, 807 were volun tary members while only 152 held their
position as full-time members. Eighty percent of the voluntary and 57 percent of full-time mem-
bers are male. The full-time members are younger than the volunteers, while women in both groups
generally being younger than their male colleagues. Furthermore a high number of university
graduates in full-time positions as well as in voluntary positions of employer’s representatives
could be recognized. When comparing the expert knowledge of the professional members and the
‘‘lay knowledge’’ of the voluntary members, only 23 per cent of the volunteers stated that they
were trained when they started their work in the committee. Therefore, an exchange of experience
and expertise is of great importance, especially for the voluntary members.
Book reviews 359
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