The agrément is the notification by the receiving State that the diplomat nominated by the sending State to serve as ambassador in the receiving State has been accepted.

The exequatur is the permission granted by the receiving State to the heads of career consular posts to carry out their consular functions within their consular districts.

Requests for agrément (Article 4 of the VCDR)

Agrément for an ambassador is applied for from the Federal Foreign Office by the foreign ministry of the sending State.

The application can be made in a number of different ways:

• by a Note Verbale via the diplomatic mission of the sending State (to Division 701)
• by a Note at Foreign Minister level
• in the form of an oral application by the current ambassador to the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs or the Chief of Protocol
  or
• via the German diplomatic mission in the sending State

The application must contain the forename(s) and surname (and any titles) of the designated ambassador as well as a curriculum vitae specifying marital status, date of birth, language skills as well as education and career details in chronological order. The Federal Foreign Office further requests that a photo be provided.

Arrival and departure of ambassadors

The embassy should inform the Federal Foreign Office (Division 701) as early as possible of an ambassador’s first arrival in and final departure from Germany. Division 701 can provide a separate fact sheet on departure formalities at the request of the embassy.

Presentation of credentials

The embassy will receive a separate brochure from the Federal Foreign Office (Division 701) containing information on preparing the presentation of credentials to the Federal President. The order of presentation of credentials will, pursuant to Article 13 (2) of the VCDR, be determined by the date and time of arrival of the head of the mission. Information on the dates of accreditation ceremonies may be obtained from Division 701 once the ambassador has arrived in Germany.

The work and official duties of the ambassador do not commence until the credentials have been presented. The protocol card is issued after that.

Initiation of the exequatur procedure (Art. 10, 11, 12, 13 of the VCCR)

The diplomatic mission informs the Federal Foreign Office (Division 703) by Note Verbale that its government intends to appoint the named person as head of the career consular post in the designated place.

The Note Verbale must be accompanied by the following documents:

• a curriculum vitae in German stating date and place of birth, as well as the candidate’s career details in full from the time they left school

• a copy of the data page of the diplomatic passport

• a communication via notification of the rank, seat of the consular post and consular district

The consular commission (Article 11 of the VCCR) in the original can be submitted now or at another point in time but after arrival in Germany at the latest.

As soon as the requisite documents have been submitted, the verification process begins. The Federal Foreign Office informs the diplomatic mission of the sending State of this by Note Verbale. The preliminary procedure can take up to 2 months on the German side. The result is also transmitted to the sending State by Note Verbale at a later point in time.

This authorisation expressly does not yet entitle the nominated person to commence their duties or carry out official acts (Article 12 (3) of the VCCR).

The granting of the exequatur (Article 12 of the VCCR)

The diplomatic mission informs the Federal Foreign Office (Division 703) by Note Verbale that the nominated person has arrived in the Federal Republic of Germany. Provided that it has not yet been done, at this point at the latest the original consular commission (including a translation in German) must be submitted for review. It is subsequently returned.

The Federal Foreign Office then grants the exequatur to the nominated person, naming the consular district, and informs the diplomatic mission of this by Note Verbale.
Only then are they entitled to commence their duties and carry out official acts in the designated consular district.