Dr. Nicolas Harding

PUBLICATIONS

I. Monographs

• Government Public Relations on Social Media, Tübingen 2023
  • Awarded the Schleswig Forum Prize 2023 for outstanding doctoral theses in the field of public law
  • Awarded the Kiel Doctores Iuris Prize 2023
  • Reviews:
    • In: FAZ — 26 September 2023, p. 7 (Stephan Klenner)
    • In: LKV 2023, Issue 33, p. 259 (Tobias Schröter)
    • In: Die Öffentliche Verwaltung 2023, Issue 76, pp. 958–959 (Birgit Eberbach-Born)
    • In: NordÖR 2023, p. 374
• The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Debt Brake in Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin 2021 (together with Florian Becker and Lennart Laude)

II. Book chapters

• Risk prevention in food law, Frankfurt am Main 2024
  • The Berlin Food Monitoring and Transparency Act (pp. 82–101, together with Florian Becker)
• Handbook on Public Law Freedom of Expression, Munich 2022
  • Section 2(3) – Specific features of social media
  • Section 3(2)(3) – Distinction between the duty of political neutrality and the requirement of objectivity
  • Section 4(2) – State advertising measures
  • Section 5(1)(3) – IFG and other claims under ordinary legislation
  • Section 5(2)(1) – State Freedom of Information Acts/Transparency Acts and other claims under ordinary legislation
  • Section 5(3) – Grounds for exclusion
• Public & Private Enforcement in Food Law, Frankfurt am Main 2022
  • Is the fundamental right to informational self-determination still an effective barrier to the disclosure of information by public authorities? (pp. 19–33, co-authored with Marie Holst and Florian Becker)

III. Articles

• The duty of political neutrality in parliamentary debate: On the judgment of the Hamburg Constitutional Court of 5 September 2025, Zparl 2026, Issue 1, pp. 83–91
• On the Interaction between Public and Private Enforcement in Food Law, LMuR 2026, Issue 1, pp. 16–23 (together with Florian Becker)
• The amendment to the municipal opening clause – An initial legal assessment, Die Gemeinde 2025, Issue 9, pp. 214–218
• The right of non-profit organisations to express an opinion, DStR 2025, Issue 26, pp. 1440–1446 (together with Simon Meyer)
• The powers of expression of local authorities – An overview, NVwZ 2025, Issue 5, pp. 292–296 (together with Sophie Vanselow)
• Trusted Flaggers under the Digital Services Act – An initial legal assessment, MMR 2025, Issue 2, pp. 94–98
• Guidance on the acceptance of benefits by local government officials, Die Gemeinde 2024, Issue 10, pp. 242–245
• On the legal inadmissibility of the ban on anticoagulants as rodenticides, LMuR 2024, Issue 2, pp. 68–73 (with Florian Becker)
• Communicative defence of the constitution and the AfD, NJW 2023, Issue 40, pp. 2911–2915
• Access to files of the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, NordÖR 2023, Issue 1, pp. 1–7 (with Florian Becker)
• On the Incompatibility with Primary Law and the Constitution of the Berlin LMÜTranspG, LMuR 2023, Issue 1, pp. 3–9 (with Florian Becker)
• On the incompatibility of the Berlin LMÜTranspG with secondary legislation, LMuR 2022, Issue 6, pp. 507–513 (with Florian Becker)
• The depoliticisation of government public relations as reflected in the current case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, NVwZ 2022, Issue 23, pp. 1777–1781
• “Dirtykitchen”, JURA 2021, Issue 2, pp. 193–200 (with Marie Holst)
• The conformity with EU law of the protection of trade names under savings bank law in the event of a merger between a public-law and a private savings bank, NJOZ 2021, pp. 481–486
• The A Party and its problems with the rule of law, ZJS 2021, Issue 1, pp. 65–71
• The election campaign in Schleswig-Holstein, JA 2020, Issue 4, pp. 284–292 (with Lennart Laude)
• The Characterisation of Government Accounts on Social Media, NJW 2019, Issue 27, pp. 1910–1915
• Procedural and substantive hurdles regarding the district levy, NVwZ 2017, Issue 20, pp. 1506–1509 (together with Fiete Kalscheuer)
• On the admissibility of a municipal packaging tax, NordÖR 2017, Issue 3, pp. 113–116 (together with Fiete Kalscheuer)

IV. Case law notes

• ECJ: Identification requirement for access to environmental information (Coillte), commentary on the ECJ judgment of 15 January 2016 – C-129/24, NJW 2026, pp. 977–978
• Freiburg Administrative Court: Inadmissible contribution by an AfD city council group in the municipal gazette, commentary on the judgment of the Freiburg Administrative Court of 20 March 2025 – 4 K 5552/24, KommJur 2025, p. 309
• Federal Court of Justice: Energy installations as customer installations, commentary on the decision of the Federal Court of Justice of 13 May 2025 – EnVR 83/20, EnWZ 2025, pp. 326–327
• Constitutional Court of Koblenz: Justified breach of the duty of neutrality by the Minister-President (Communicative defence of the constitution): Commentary on the judgment of the Constitutional Court of Rhineland-Palatinate of 2 April 2025 – VGH O 11/24, NVwZ 2025, pp. 928–930
• Higher Administrative Court of Koblenz: Applicability of analogy and infringement of fundamental rights in the VIG, commentary on the judgment of the Higher Administrative Court of Koblenz of 28 June 2024 – 10 A 10901/23.OVG, LMuR 2025, pp. 183–184
• Federal Constitutional Court: Constitutionality of the Tübingen packaging tax, commentary on the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 27 November 2024 – 1 BvR 1726/23, KommJur 2025, p. 104.
• Berlin Administrative Court: Publication of results and assessments of food law inspections on the internet, commentary on the decision of the Berlin Administrative Court of 16 December 2024 – VG 14 L 228/24, LMuR 2025, pp. 131–133
• Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg: Election objection – breach of the duty of neutrality by the mayor, commentary on the decision of the Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg of 16 September 2024 – 10 LA 84/24, NVwZ 2024, pp. 1682–1684
• Federal Administrative Court: Inadmissibility of anonymous Freedom of Information Act applications, commentary on the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court of 20 March 2024 – 6 C 8/22, NJW 2024, pp. 2488–2489
• Berlin Administrative Court: Breach of neutrality by a police officer (“Officer Denny”), commentary on the judgment of the Berlin Administrative Court of 18 March 2024 – 36 K 389/22, MMR 2024, pp. 709–710
• Federal Administrative Court: Duty of laboratory managers to report to the authorities upon detection of salmonella in foodstuffs, commentary on the judgment of the Federal Administrative Court of 14 December 2023 – 3 C 7.22, LMuR 2024, pp. 179–180
• Constitutional Court of Bückeburg: The Minister-President’s power to make statements in response to attacks by an anti-constitutional political party on press freedom, commentary on the judgment of the Lower Saxony Constitutional Court of 24 November 2020 – StGH 6/19, NVwZ 2021, pp. 147–148
• NVwZ Editorial: The “Chancellor’s” right to comment and the Federal Constitutional Court, NVwZ 2022, Issue 15

V. Blog posts

• Anonymous right to information: Information yes, but for whom, please? – Commentary on the judgment of the ECJ of 15 January 2026 – C-129/24, beck-aktuell of 15 January 2026
• The Bundestag should regulate ministers’ public relations work, F.A.Z. Einspruch, 16 September 2024
• The end for influencers in uniform?: On the Berlin Administrative Court’s ruling against ‘Officer Denny’, VerfBlog, 28 June 2024
• How government members are allowed to comment on the AfD, F.A.Z. Einspruch, 5 March 2024
• The state brake: Why the democratic parties should now find a common line on dealing with the debt brake, VerfBlog, 27 November 2023
• Emergency loans anytime, anywhere? How the Basic Law curbs the states’ borrowing, VerfBlog, 25 April 2023  
• From public to private: On the classification of Nancy Faeser’s Twitter account, VerfBlog, 8 February 2023  
• The Digital Services Act and fundamental rights – time for a “Lüth” ruling from the ECJ?, LTO, 16 July 2022
• Bazooka becomes a booster: On the constitutionality of deferring coronavirus loans in the supplementary budget, VerfBlog, 19 December 2021
• Giving a Toss about the Social Media Cut and Thrust: Political parties’ election campaigns on social media, VerfBlog, 12 December 2019  

VI. Miscellaneous

• Statement on the draft bill to strengthen the protection of the constitution in the state of Schleswig-Holstein (LT-Drs. 20/3754) 
• Statement on behalf of the Freie Apothekerschaft e.V. on the draft bill for a Pharmacy Supply Development Act and on the draft bill for a Second Ordinance amending the Pharmacy Operating Regulations and the Medicines Price Ordinance of 10 November 2025 (together with Dr Fiete Kalscheuer)
• Guest article “What IFG applications can achieve for pharmacies”, in: Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung DAZ, 2025, issue no. 34, pages 88 to 90.
• Statement on behalf of the Freie Apothekerschaft e.V. on the admissibility under European and constitutional law of a ban on the mail-order sale of prescription medicines dated 25 February 2025 (together with Fiete Kalscheuer)
• Statement commissioned by the Freie Apothekerschaft e.V. on the compatibility of the draft bill for the Pharmacy Reform Act with pharmacy law and constitutional law, dated 26 June 2024 (together with Fiete Kalscheuer)
• Position paper for the Hanns Martin Schleyer Foundation’s 2022 International Congress on Young Science and Business: ‘Social networks between constitutional freedom and constitutional constraints: time for a new European regulatory policy?’