Separate from the Bundesland-by-Bundesland dangerous-dog rules covered in this guide's Listenhunde article, Germany has one single federal law that applies the same way everywhere in the country: the Hundeverbringungs- und -einfuhrbeschränkungsgesetz (HundVerbrEinfG), the law restricting the bringing-in or importing of dangerous dogs. Its official text, published on gesetze-im-internet.de, bans bringing or importing a Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier or Bullterrier into Germany, along with any cross between these breeds or with another breed.

This is a genuinely hard line, not a permit-and-insurance system like Spain's PPP licence or most of Germany's own state-level Listenhunde rules. The Federal Constitutional Court upheld the ban's core provision as compatible with Germany's Basic Law in a 2004 ruling, and the law's own penalty section sets real consequences: knowingly bringing in a banned dog carries up to two years' imprisonment or a fine, a negligent breach up to one year, and the dog itself can be confiscated.

The government can grant narrow exceptions by regulation, but none are listed in the law itself, so a dog of one of these four breeds or a visible cross of them shouldn't be brought toward the German border on the assumption an exception will apply — check with German authorities well before travel if there's any doubt about a dog's breed or ancestry.