Emil Lederer: Discussion contribution on coal mining (1920)

This recorded speaking turn from an official commission discussion addresses a narrow question of legal authority: how the coal association’s regulation of foreign trade relates to the powers of public authorities. Lederer begins with the wording of § 2:

Sie regelt die Aus- und Einfuhr unter Berücksichtigung der von den zuständigen Behörden erlassenen allgemeinen Aus- und Einfuhrbestimmungen.

English translation: It regulates exports and imports with due regard to the general export and import provisions issued by the competent authorities.

For Lederer, this qualification preserves the applicability of general public regulation. He illustrates the point through the customs tariff law: an authority may be empowered to differentiate tariffs according to destination countries. Such a power, if granted, also applies in relation to the coal association. Its responsibility for regulating trade does not exempt it from legally authorized measures.

The decisive distinction is between generally applicable authority and measures directed specifically against the association:

Die Rechte der Behörden, die aus den Gesetzen fließen, sind allgemein; eine Behörde darf natürlich nicht speziell die Kohlengemeinschaft als solche treffen wollen.

English translation: The rights of the authorities that derive from the laws are general; an authority must, of course, not seek specifically to target the coal association as such.

Lederer thus reconciles the association’s regulatory role with statutory governmental powers while rejecting its selective targeting. The contribution moves from textual interpretation through a tariff example to this general principle. Its relevance lies in clarifying the legal position of coal-sector organization, rather than proposing a broader economic programme: Lederer concludes that the authorities’ regulations otherwise apply to the association and sees no difficulty in this reading.