verbandsgemeinde

A Verbandsgemeinde is an association of neighboring municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate that performs administrative tasks its members are too small to perform alone.

The member municipalities continue to exist with their own councils and their own names. The association handles building control, schools and similar functions on their behalf, so it sits between the municipality and the district.

Comparable bodies elsewhere in Germany carry different names, and the German municipality key gives the association its own place in the twelve-digit form while leaving it out of the eight-digit one.