Article 31
Family and Women
(1) It shall be the task of the all-German legislator to develop further the legislation on equal rights for men and women.
(2) In view of different legal and institutional starting positions with regard to the employment of mothers and fathers, it shall be the task of the all-German legislator to shape the legal situation in such a way as to allow a reconciliation of family and occupational life.
(3) In order to ensure that day care centers for children continue to operate in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty, the Federation shall contribute to the costs of these centers for a transitional period up to 30 June 1991.
(4) It shall be the task of the all-German legislator to introduce regulations no later than 31 December 1992 which ensure better protection of unborn life and provide a better solution in conformity with the Constitution of conflict situations faced by pregnant women – notably through legally guaranteed entitlements for women, first and foremost to advice and public support – than is the case in either part of Germany at present. In order to achieve these objectives, a network of advice centers run by various agencies and offering blanket coverage shall be set up without delay with financial assistance from the Federation in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty. The advice centers shall be provided with sufficient staff and funds to allow them to cope with the task of advising pregnant women and offering them necessary assistance, including beyond the time of confinement. In the event that no regulations are introduced within the period stated in the first sentence, the substantive law shall continue to apply in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty. [ . . . ]
Article 33
Public Health
(1) It shall be the task of the legislators to create the conditions for effecting a rapid and lasting improvement in in-patient care in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty and for bringing it into line with the situation in the remainder of the federal territory.
(2) In order to avoid deficits arising from expenditure on prescribed drugs by the health insurance scheme in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty, the all-German legislature shall introduce temporary regulations providing for a reduction in producers' prices within the meaning of the Ordinance on the Price of Drugs corresponding to the gap between the income subject to insurance contributions in the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty and that in the present federal territory.
Article 34
Protection of the Environment
(1) On the basis of the German environmental union established under Article 16 of the Treaty of 18 May 1990 in conjunction with the Skeleton Environment Act of the German Democratic Republic of 29 June 1990 (Law Gazette 1, No. 42, p. 649), it shall be the task of the legislators to protect the natural basis of man's existence, with due regard for prevention, the polluter-pays principle, and cooperation, and to promote uniform ecological conditions of a high standard at least equivalent to that reached in the Federal Republic of Germany.
(2) With a view to attaining the objective defined in paragraph 1 above, ecological rehabilitation and development programs shall be drawn up for the territory specified in Article 3 of this Treaty, in line with the distribution of competence under the Basic Law. Measures to ward off dangers to public health shall be accorded priority.
print version
return to list
previous document