Federal Ministry of Defence Special Air Mission Wing Airbus (Larger version opens in new window) Source: Protokoll Inland

The federal colours are the defining colours of the federal symbols.

The provisions of Section I no. 1 (1) of the Directive concerning the German flags should be followed as far as possible: “The federal flag shall consist of three horizontal stripes of equal width, black at the top, red in the middle and gold at the bottom; the proportion of the hoist (width) to the fly (length) of the bunting shall be 3:5”.

Depending on the type and use of a product displaying the federal flag (for example, polyester, cotton, metal, paper or plastic; daylight, artificial light, indoors, outdoors), different shades of black, red and gold may satisfy the requirements of the Basic Law. The position of the sun, cloud cover and weather, in addition to the subjective perception of the viewer, may make the same flag look different at different times.