::back to table of contents::	Electronic Payments In The German Public Sector – Legal Issues
	Ludwig Gramlich
full paper	Abstract: The paper tries to analyse more closely why although there are no major general legal restrictions for electronic payments in Germany, schemes developed for e-commerce have not yet been transferred to the field of payments to or even from public authorities and why mobile payment schemes do not play any role at all in the public sector at present. Traditional commercial bank money has remained the most prominent means of payment, and this situation will hardly change in the near future since whereas a general” electronification” of payments might take place within the next years, current German projects for introducing and strengthening e-government do not extend to the introduction of m-payment systems but are restricted to adapting traditional payment instruments to standards established in e-commerce transactions.
	Keywords: E-money, E-money institution, means of payment, legal tender, commercial bank money, m-payment