Rea­liza­ti­on / Auc­tion of lost pro­per­ty

Lost pro­per­ty must be sold by public auc­tion in accordance with § 979 BGB.

Ger­man Civil Code (BGB)
Sec­tion 979 Uti­liza­ti­on; aut­ho­riza­ti­on to issue ordi­nan­ces

(1) The public aut­ho­ri­ty or the trans­por­ta­ti­on aut­ho­ri­ty may have the pro­per­ty deli­ver­ed to it sold by public auc­tion. The public aut­ho­ri­ties and the trans­por­ta­ti­on aut­ho­ri­ties of the Reich, the fede­ral sta­tes and the muni­ci­pa­li­ties may have the auc­tion con­duc­ted by one of their offi­ci­als.

(1a) The auc­tion may also take place as a gene­ral­ly acces­si­ble auc­tion on the Inter­net in accordance with the fol­lo­wing pro­vi­si­ons.

(1b) The Fede­ral Govern­ment shall be aut­ho­ri­zed to desi­gna­te auc­tion plat­forms for the auc­tio­ning of lost pro­per­ty by sta­tu­to­ry order wit­hout the con­sent of the Bun­des­rat; it may dele­ga­te this aut­ho­riza­ti­on by sta­tu­to­ry order to the com­pe­tent supre­me fede­ral aut­ho­ri­ties. The sta­te govern­ments shall be aut­ho­ri­zed to issue cor­re­spon­ding regu­la­ti­ons for their area by sta­tu­to­ry order; they may dele­ga­te this aut­ho­riza­ti­on to the com­pe­tent supre­me sta­te aut­ho­ri­ties. The fede­ral sta­tes may desi­gna­te auc­tion plat­forms that they use on a cross-sta­te basis. They may agree to trans­fer sett­le­ment tasks to the com­pe­tent aut­ho­ri­ty of ano­ther fede­ral sta­te.

(2) The pro­ceeds shall take the place of the item.