Legal norms (laws, ordinances, statutes) only become effective if they are published. Federal laws and ordinances are promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette, state regulations in the gazettes of laws and ordinances of the federal states.

For the municipal level, there are state regulations that provide for the public announcement of bylaws in an official gazette, a newspaper, on the Internet or by posting. The official gazettes of the municipalities not only publish statutes, but also other notices required by law. Other official notices are also published. In a non-official section, the official gazettes can contain brief news from the municipality or information on events.