Principle: Gifts may not be accepted

Under § 42 (1) sentences 1, 2 of the Beamtenstatusgesetz (BeamtStG), Beamte-status civil servants may not accept any rewards, gifts or other benefits (gratuities) for themselves or a third party in relation to their office; exceptions require the consent of their employer. Details are regulated in no. 32 of the Verwaltungsvorschrift des Innenministeriums zur Durchführung beamtenrechtlicher Vorschriften (BeamtVwV). The same applies to employees in accordance with the collective agreement for the public sector (§ 3 TV-L). These regulations also apply, for example, to the acceptance of academic prizes that are endowed with prize money for personal use. Please note that, with the exception of prize money, benefits in monetary form may not be accepted (32.5 BeamtVwV).

Permissible benefits

The benefits specified in no. 32.6 BeamtVwV (including mass promotional items such as calendars, pens of a simple type; birthday gifts from the colleagues as a group to the usual extent; customary, appropriate hospitality, for example at meetings) may be accepted; consent is generally deemed to have been granted.

Benefits which must be reported

As a rule, donations up to a value of EUR 35 per calendar year need only to be reported. The value limit of EUR 35 applies per person receiving a gift and for each giver. Exception: The acceptance of gifts from individual students (or individual doctoral candidates) is not permitted without special approval. Notification is carried out via EWorkflow in accordance with the specifications of the Ministry of Science:

https://eworkflow.uni-tuebingen.de/form/zv_dez1_zuwendungen

Benefits which must be approved

If the limit of 35 euros is exceeded or in the case of gifts from individual students or doctoral candidates, the following applies: If you are offered a gift as an employee of the University of Tübingen, you are obliged to obtain approval for the acceptance of the gift - if possible in advance - from the responsible office. Please submit your application via the EWorkflow:  

https://eworkflow.uni-tuebingen.de/form/zv_dez1_genehmigung_zuwendung

If the application is submitted retrospectively, acceptance must generally be subject to the reservation that the gift will be returned if acceptance is not approved (32.5 BeamtVwV). Until a decision has been made on the application, the employee may not use or dispose of the gift.
The processing of incoming applications via the e-workflow is carried out by a unit in Division I of the Central Administration (or the Faculty of Medicine), which has been commissioned by the President and the Executive Vice-President as the respective supervisors of civil servants and employees under private law to perform these tasks fairly. 
 

The principle that civil servants may not accept any rewards, gifts or other benefits for themselves or a third party in relation to their office in accordance with § 42 (1) sentences 1 and 2 BeamtStG also applies in this respect; exceptions require the consent of the employer. The same applies to employees in accordance with the collective agreement for the public sector (§ 3 TV-L).
Approval is therefore also required for the acceptance of an academic prize that is endowed with prize money intended for personal use or with other benefits intended for personal use above the limit of EUR 35.
If you are awarded such an academic prize as an employee of the University of Tübingen, you are obliged to obtain prior approval from the responsible office before accepting the prize money or other benefits associated with the prize. Please submit your application via the e-workflow: 

https://eworkflow.uni-tuebingen.de/form/zv_dez1_genehmigung_preisgeld

As part of the application, information on the following questions must be provided in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Science (information can be provided in the EWorkflow):
• Which organization is awarding the prize?
• What are its objectives, who are its members?
• Could it or one of its members benefit from the prizewinner's office?
• Where do the prize money and any other benefits come from?
• Is the prize awarded in a fair and transparent procedure?
• Is the selection made by a neutral and expert jury?
• Is the selection decision based on purely academic criteria?

Benefits for official use

Grants from public (except the University of Tübingen) or private sources for purposes within the scope of official duties, in particular for research and teaching tasks, are subject to the third-party funding regulations (see third-party funding regulations and information on the administrative regulation of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK) and use of third-party funds).

For further information, please refer to the information sheet “Information from the University of Tübingen on the acceptance of rewards, gifts and other benefits” and  third-party funding guidelines of Div. VII section 2 (University login required).