A paradigm shift in German corporate governance: The implications of the German Corporate Governance Code reform for supervisory boards

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Abstact

The forthcoming revision of the German Corporate Governance Code (Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex, DCGK) marks a potential paradigm shift in the architecture of corporate oversight in Germany. Over the past years, a series of legislative reforms — including the German Act on the Stabilisation and Restructuring Framework for Businesses (Gesetz über den Stabilisierungs- und Restrukturierungsrahmen für Unternehmen, StaRUG), the Financial Market Integrity Strengthening Act (Finanzmarktintegritätsstärkungsgesetz, FISG) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) — have significantly expanded the regulatory framework within which boards are expected to operate. Risk management, the Business Judgement Rule, and the integration of sustainability into corporate decision-making have moved from peripheral considerations to core elements of responsible leadership (Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer, 2020; Gleißner & Haarmeyer, 2024). For supervisory boards, this means that their monitoring and advisory duties are becoming both more demanding and more legally sensitive. In this environment, the DCGK increasingly functions as a litmus test of whether German governance practice is capable of learning and adapting — or whether it remains confined to well-intentioned but vague principles.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Germany, Sustainability, Supervisory Boards

JEL Classification: K22, G34, M14

Received: 21.11.2025
Accepted: 24.11.2025

How to cite: Ulrich, P. (2026). A paradigm shift in German corporate governance: The implications of the German Corporate Governance Code reform for supervisory boards. In A. Celentano, A. Kostyuk, S. Dell’Atti, & G. Giovando (Eds.), Corporate governance: Multidisciplinary research (pp. 18–22). Virtus Interpress. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgmrp3