Which version applies – and what changed when?
Local law is rarely one document; it is a chain: the original bylaw plus amending bylaws, along with references to other bylaws and to state law. An assistant working on that material answers which rule applies and what it rests on – naming the reference. The officially published version remains authoritative; KOSMO leads you to it, it does not replace it.
What this is about
The most common question in daily work is not a difficult one: does this rule apply here, and in which version? Only the answer is difficult, because local law has grown over time. A bylaw from 2016 was amended twice, the second amendment affected only one subsection, and the consolidated version either does not exist or is not marked as such.
Cross-references add to it. The fee schedule refers to the special-use bylaw, which refers to the state roads act. Anyone who does not know the chain either answers the question wrongly or spends a morning answering it correctly.
Which sources KOSMO connects to
What gets connected is local law in the form in which you keep it:
- Bylaws and amending bylaws – even where no consolidated version exists.
- Fee and charge schedules with their annexes and tariff lists.
- Service instructions and administrative rules that govern application in-house.
- State law and decrees, as far as you keep them as documents and they are referred to.
How it works
- Connect local law
The folder holding local law is connected as a source. Amending bylaws stay as separate documents – their relationship to the original bylaw is precisely the information at issue.
- Ask instead of leafing
The question is asked the way it was asked on the phone. KOSMO names the rule, the bylaw and the passage – and, where present, the amending bylaw that last affected it.
- Trace the changes
If someone asks since when something applies, the answer points to the amending bylaw including its date. That settles the version question in one step instead of three.
- Check against the original
The reference leads to the document. For information with external effect, that step belongs to the process – the answer is the fast route there, not a substitute for it.
An example
What fee applies to a special-use permit for a market stall, and since when has that amount been in force?
From SpecialUseFeeBylaw_2019.pdf, tariff item 3.2: for sales stands on public areas, €4.50 is charged per square metre started and per day. Under 1st_AmendingBylaw_SpecialUse_2024.pdf, this amount was raised to €5.20 with effect from 1 January 2025; the remaining tariff items were unchanged.
Illustrative example. What KOSMO answers depends solely on the documents you connect – nothing is invented, and every statement carries its reference.
What does not happen
The documents do not leave your infrastructure. KOSMO runs on-premise or in our German data centre; there is no transfer to a cloud provider, no third-country question and no CLOUD Act caveat. No model is trained on your content either – it serves to answer your question, nothing more. Who may see which source is controlled through group permissions; anyone who may not open a document will not see it quoted in an answer.
Where the limit lies: What is authoritative is always the officially published version. KOSMO gives no legal advice and interprets nothing – it shows what is written where and makes the reference verifiable. For decisions with external effect on citizens, that does not replace checking against the original. If an amending bylaw is missing from the connected material, the answer cannot take it into account either – maintaining that material remains your task.
Frequently asked questions
Does KOSMO know which version currently applies?
It finds and names the amending bylaws affecting a rule, including dates – provided they are connected. Establishing which version applies legally remains a professional decision; KOSMO supplies the basis for it at a glance.
Is this legal advice?
No. KOSMO reproduces what is in your documents and evidences it. Interpretation, weighing of interests and issuing decisions are tasks of the responsible office and remain so.
Can citizens use this too?
KOSMO is meant for internal work. For questions from outside there is NOVA, the chatbot for your own website – it answers from the content already published there.
What happens with contradictory rules?
KOSMO puts both references side by side instead of choosing one. A contradiction in local law is a substantive problem – the assistant makes it visible but does not resolve it.
See it on your own files
We will show you KOSMO on your own documents – without anything having to be uploaded that leaves your building.
