Information on flag displays
Article Flag Displays
Helpful tips in our photo galleries
It’s easy to make mistakes when displaying flags – flying the wrong flag, or flying the right flag the wrong way. In our photo galleries, we explain the correct way to display the flag and how to avoid mistakes.
A closer look ...
The Swiss flag (Part 1)
The Swiss flag is square, whereas most other national flags are rectangular. According to information from the Swiss Embassy in the Federal Republic of Germany of 19 April 2010, the official format of the Swiss flag is always square. Only the Swiss national ensign for ships is rectangular. The square-format Swiss flag should always be used for bilateral or multilateral occasions. The rectangular Swiss flag may be used at sport events as an exception (supplementary information from the Swiss Embassy to the Federal Ministry of the Interior dated 16 February 2011).
Source: Protokoll Inland
Flag flying from the roof of the Swiss Embassy in Berlin (Larger version opens in new window)
Common mistakes
Empty flagpoles
If flags are to be hoisted on only some of the available flagpoles, then they should be hoisted on flagpoles next to each other, not leaving any empty flagpoles between them. This applies above all to displays of the European and federal (institutions) flag, which are intended to express the close relationship between the two.
Exceptions should be limited to special situations, for example at the Federal Chancellery, when various foreign flags must be hoisted in short succession on the centre of three flagpoles. Flags should always be hoisted on the flagpoles in the superior position, i.e. on the left of an observer facing the building, so that empty flagpoles will be on the right.
Information for indivuals and businesses
Federal flags displayed on homes and cars
Private displays of the federal flag (black-red-gold, no eagle) are provided for in the Basic Law and constitutionally protected under Articles 2 and 5. Individuals are allowed to display the federal flag, as long as they show proper respect for it as a state symbol. Apart from Section 1 (1) of the Flag Act of 8 February 1951 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 79) as promulgated on 26 October 1994 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 3140) stating that all merchant ships and ocean-going vessels in German ownership and registered in the territory in which the Basic Law applies, citizens are not required to display the flag and are not subject to regulations on how to display the federal flag.
Whether permanent flag displays on house façades, windows or on cars are in fact appropriate, however, must be decided in the individual case.
