The Federal Office of Justice, with around 1,300 members of staff, is a higher federal authority in the remit of the Federal Ministry of Justice. As a central service provider, it is responsible for carrying out a wide variety of duties. For example, it is the first port of call for those seeking information on the German legal system from abroad and is Germany’s Contact Point in European and international legal relations. The Federal Office of Justice is home to a number of Germany’s central legal registers, and thus responsible the Federal Central Criminal Register (Bundeszentralregister), the Central Register of Proceedings conducted by Public Prosecution Offices (Staatsanwaltschaftliche Verfahrensregister) and the Central Trade and Industry Register (Gewerbezentralregister). As records authority, it is also responsible for exchanging information from criminal records with its counterparts in other countries. In its capacity as consumer protection authority, the Federal Office of Justice is home to the Air Transport Arbitration Body (Schlichtungsstelle Luftverkehr). At the same time, it is responsible for authorising private arbitration bodies to act in consumer protection matters.

Other responsibilities include that of Central Authority in cross-border child maintenance matters and proceedings under the International Family Law Procedure Act (Internationales Familienrechtsverfahrensgesetz) , the task of the Federal Central Authority for cross-border adoption and that of Federal Central Contact Point in the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters, as well as that of the collection of bank account information to allow debts owed to be pursued across borders.

The Federal Office of Justice is also involved in extradition, enforcement and legal assistance in criminal matters and acts as Federal Central Contact Point in the European Judicial Network in Criminal Matters. It supports the Federal Ministry of Justice in judicial and consumer research, and in promulgating statutes and other legal provisions. As a central service provider, the Federal Office of Justice's responsibilities include making claims on the part of the German Federal Government and of prosecuting and enforcing regulatory offences.