Small Business Website in Germany: Impressum Under § 5 DDG, Cookie Consent Under the TDDDG and a DSGVO-Ready Datenschutzerklärung

Any commercial website aimed at Germany must carry an Impressum under § 5 of the Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz (DDG), ask for consent before non-essential cookies under § 25 TDDDG, and explain its data use in a Datenschutzerklärung that meets the DSGVO (the GDPR). The DDG replaced the old Telemediengesetz on 14 May 2024, so a site that still says “Angaben gemäß § 5 TMG” cites a law that no longer exists. This guide walks through each requirement, how Germans search, what a site costs, and a worked example for a hair salon in Leipzig.

Is my current website out of date? A quick self-check

Many German small business sites were set up years ago and never touched again. Open yours and look for these five things. Each takes a minute to check, and each is a common reason a site attracts a warning letter (Abmahnung) from a competitor or an association.

• 1Does the Impressum page still mention the TMG or the TTDSG? Both names were replaced in May 2024.
• 2Is the Impressum one click away from every page, usually from the footer, and not hidden in a PDF or image?
• 3Do tracking or advertising tools load before the visitor has clicked anything on the cookie banner?
• 4Does the banner offer a way to say no that is as easy as saying yes?
• 5Is there still a link to the EU online dispute resolution (OS) platform? That platform closed on 20 July 2025, so the link now leads nowhere and should go.

If you answered “yes” to the first, third or fifth question, or “no” to the second or fourth, the fixes below are worth doing this month.

What must an Impressum contain under § 5 DDG?

Section 5 DDG applies to providers of commercial digital services, which in practice means almost every business website. The information must be easy to recognise, directly reachable and permanently available. The statute lists, where they apply to you:

• 1Your name and the address where you can be found. Companies add their legal form and the people authorised to represent them, such as the Geschäftsführer.
• 2Contact details that allow fast electronic contact and direct communication, including an email address.
• 3The competent supervisory authority, if your activity needs an official licence.
• 4The register you are entered in (Handelsregister, Vereinsregister, Partnerschaftsregister and similar) and the register number.
• 5For regulated professions: the chamber you belong to, your statutory professional title and the country that awarded it, and the professional rules that apply, with a way to read them.
• 6Your VAT identification number (USt-IdNr.) or economic identification number (Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer), if you have one.
• 7For a GmbH, AG or KGaA in liquidation, a statement saying so.

A sole trader with no register entry and no VAT ID therefore has a short Impressum: name, street address, phone or other fast contact, and email. A GmbH has a longer one. Either way, the label in the footer should say “Impressum” so visitors and checkers find it instantly.

Why does an old “§ 5 TMG” line matter if the content is the same?

The Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK) note that the content duties barely changed when the DDG took over. But a page that cites a repealed law signals that nobody has looked at the site since 2024, and legal commentators flag it as an avoidable Abmahnung risk. Fines for breaching § 5 DDG can reach €50,000 under § 33 DDG, though in practice the warning letter from a competitor, with its fee, is the more common cost. Replacing “§ 5 TMG” with “§ 5 DDG” takes thirty seconds, so do it today.

Do I need a cookie banner in Germany under the TDDDG?

You need consent before storing or reading anything on a visitor’s device unless it is strictly necessary for a service the visitor asked for. That rule sits in § 25 of the Telekommunikation-Digitale-Dienste-Datenschutz-Gesetz (TDDDG), the renamed TTDSG; the rule itself did not change in 2024. A shopping basket or a login cookie is strictly necessary. Analytics, advertising pixels, embedded videos and social media plug-ins usually are not.

So the honest answer is: if your site uses only strictly necessary cookies, you need no banner at all, just a clear explanation in the Datenschutzerklärung. Many small sites can be built that way. The moment you add a tracking pixel for ads or a third-party map that sets cookies, you need a banner that blocks those tools until the visitor agrees and offers a real “Ablehnen” option.

What goes into a Datenschutzerklärung?

The DSGVO (Articles 13 and 14) says what you must tell people when you collect their data. For a small business site that usually means one page, in German, covering:

• 1Who is responsible (the controller), with contact details.
• 2What you collect: contact form entries, booking details, server logs, cookie data.
• 3Why you collect each item and the legal basis, such as answering an enquiry or consent for marketing tools.
• 4Who receives the data: your host, email provider, booking tool or payment provider.
• 5How long you keep it.
• 6The visitor’s rights: access, correction, deletion, objection, withdrawal of consent.
• 7The right to complain to a data protection authority. In Germany, complaints about private businesses go to the authority of the relevant federal state (Land).

How do people in Germany search for a local business?

Google is dominant but not alone. StatCounter put Google at about 88% of German searches in September 2026, Bing at about 6.5%, and Yahoo, Yandex, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia at roughly 1–2% each. Since some smaller engines draw partly on Bing’s results, registering your site with Bing Webmaster Tools as well as Google Search Console is a cheap way to cover most of the remainder.

Three local habits shape a good German site. People expect exact opening hours, including Mittagspause and Betriebsurlaub, on both the site and the Google Business Profile. They expect a street address, not a vague service area, for any shop or practice. And they notice tone: most trades, practices and professional services address customers formally with “Sie”, while cafés, gyms and studios often use “du”. Pick one and use it on every page.

Worked example: a four-chair hair salon in Leipzig

Picture an owner-run Friseursalon with three employees, registered as an Einzelunternehmen. Most bookings arrive by phone and WhatsApp, and the owner wants new customers from searches such as “Friseur Leipzig Südvorstadt”.

A sensible five-page site covers Home, Leistungen & Preise, Team, Galerie and Kontakt, plus the Impressum and Datenschutz pages linked in the footer. The Impressum lists the owner’s full name, the salon’s street address, phone, email and the USt-IdNr. if she has one. Hairdressing is a skilled trade entered in the Handwerksrolle, so she should ask her Handwerkskammer whether her registration details belong in the Impressum too.

The price list is plain text, not a photo of the paper menu, because search engines and screen readers can read text. The map on the contact page loads only after the visitor clicks it, which keeps it out of the consent problem entirely. With no ads pixel and no third-party embeds, the site needs no cookie banner. If the owner later wants online appointments, booking can be added as an extra page and the Datenschutzerklärung updated to name the booking tool.

On Adyft Sites this is the Starter plan: $1,499 setup and $69 a month for five pages, live in under seven days, with the online booking add-on at $399 plus $25 a month if she wants it later.

Does the BFSG (accessibility law) apply to my website?

Germany implemented the European Accessibility Act through the Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz (BFSG), in force since 28 June 2025. The IHKs summarise the core point for websites: online shops and other e-commerce services aimed at consumers must be accessible, and fines can reach €100,000. The technical benchmark is EN 301 549, which in practice means WCAG 2.1 level AA.

Two facts take most small firms out of scope. A pure information site that sells nothing online is not an e-commerce service. And microenterprises, meaning fewer than 10 people and annual turnover or balance sheet of no more than €2 million, are exempt from the service requirements. The Leipzig salon is outside on both counts. A twelve-person bike shop selling parts online to consumers is inside, and should budget for an accessibility check.

Even when the law does not bite, readable contrast, proper headings, labelled form fields and image descriptions make a site easier for everyone and easier for search engines to understand. Ask any provider, us included, to show you how they handle them.

What does a website cost in Germany in 2026?

There is no official price statistic. One German price guide, updated September 2026, puts a five-page site from a freelancer at roughly €2,000–4,000 (at €80–120 an hour), a full-service agency from about €15,000, hosting at €5–50 a month and maintenance at €50–250 a month. Other guides give wider ranges, so get more than one quote. DIY website builders run from free to about €50 a month, with the owner doing all the writing, legal pages and upkeep.

When comparing quotes, ask in writing whether the price includes the German copy, the Impressum and Datenschutz pages, cookie set-up, hosting after year one and changes after launch. Those items are where cheap quotes become expensive years.

Adyft Sites quotes in US dollars only. Starter is $1,499 plus $69 a month for five pages, Growth is $3,499 plus $129 for 25 pages, and Shop Starter is $3,999 plus $129 a month for a site that takes orders. The monthly fee pays for hosting, SSL, security updates, small edits you request on WhatsApp, Google and AI-search set-up and a visitor report each month. Your domain is registered in your own name.

What Adyft Sites sets up, and when we are not the right fit

You answer our questions on WhatsApp; we write every page, add the Impressum and privacy pages with the details you give us, set the site up to be found on Google and read by AI assistants, and host and look after it. We add the pages; the legal wording should be checked by your adviser or IHK. If you need every page in German, ask us before you order. FAQ, Contact and Privacy pages cost nothing extra on any plan, and you can pick from 42 industry designs before ordering.

We are not a law firm. If you run an online shop with complex terms, a subscription model or regulated products, have a German lawyer or a legal-text service review your AGB and Widerrufsbelehrung. If you want regular in-person meetings in German, a local freelancer suits you better. And if you enjoy building and have the evenings to spare, a DIY builder is the cheapest route.

Sources: § 5 DDG (official text) — https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ddg/__5.html · IHK Bonn, DDG replaces TMG — https://ihk-bonn.de/recht-und-steuern/recht/aktuelles/das-digitale-dienste-gesetz-ersetzt-das-telemediengesetz · IT-Recht Kanzlei, Impressum fines — https://www.it-recht-kanzlei.de/eroeffnen-onlineshop-impressum.html · e-recht24, TDDDG — https://www.e-recht24.de/datenschutz/12834-tdddg.html · IHK Stuttgart, barrier-free websites — https://www.ihk.de/stuttgart/fuer-unternehmen/recht-und-steuern/it-recht/barrierefreie-webseiten · European Accessibility Act, Art. 4 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2019/882/article/4 · ODR platform closure — https://cms.law/en/deu/legal-updates/the-odr-platform-is-closing-what-businesses-need-to-know · EDPB members list — https://www.edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en · A German web agency’s published price guide (updated September 2026) ·StatCounter, Germany search share — https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/germany