Bavaria wants to ensure that surviving cancer no longer leads to disadvantages for those affected. On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers decided to support a Bundesrat initiative by other federal states calling on the federal government to present a regulatory proposal on the so-called “right to be forgotten”, as the state government announced on bayern.de. According to the announcement, once medically justified time limits have elapsed, there should no longer be any obligation to disclose a overcome cancer – for example in insurance contract law, consumer credit agreements and adoption placement procedures.
According to the announcement, research findings on recurrence and long-term risks as well as internationally recognised medical criteria for cure should be used to shape these time limits. This is intended to take account of medical progress and create a scientifically sound regulation.
First steps from November
Part of the project is already under way: from 20 November 2026, a statutory “right to be forgotten” will apply for the first time to certain residual debt insurances. There, a overcome cancer may no longer be taken into account 15 years after completion of treatment. In addition, the use of health data in creditworthiness checks for general consumer loans will be excluded.
In Bavaria, just under 80,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer each year. The most common cancer among women is breast cancer with around 11,000 new cases per year, and among men prostate cancer with around 13,000 new cases. According to estimates, more than a third of all new cancer cases are attributable to avoidable or modifiable risk factors – above all smoking, followed by obesity, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet and alcohol consumption. Other important risk factors are UV radiation and infections such as human papillomaviruses (HPV).
“Cured is cured” also in civil service law
Bavaria also wants to expressly regulate in the Bavarian Civil Service Act that the finding or disclosure of a completely cured cancer does not prevent the determination of health suitability. The Council of Ministers proposes a corresponding wording. According to the state government, this is intended to make clear that a cured cancer is not an exclusion criterion for appointment to the civil service. “Cured is cured”, the announcement says.
To support those affected, the state government points to psychosocial cancer counselling centres and self-help services. The Bavarian Centre for Cancer Research (BZKF) bundles the expertise of the six Bavarian university hospitals in Augsburg, Erlangen, Munich (LMU and TUM), Regensburg and Würzburg and is networked with the Bavarian Cancer Registry at the State Office for Health and Food Safety. In the current two-year budget, the Free State is investing around 19 million euros in the BZKF, plus over 10 million euros for various studies. For the five-year set-up phase of the National Centre for Tumour Diseases NCT WERA, Bavaria is providing a total of around 4.5 million euros.
In addition to prevention, the state government is focusing on screening and early detection. A year ago, the Ministry of Health presented the Masterplan Prevention, which addresses risk factors and includes offers for a healthy lifestyle.
Crisis preparedness in agriculture
The Council of Ministers also dealt with the crisis resilience of Bavarian agriculture. The basis was a survey by the State Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism, in which more than 16,000 agricultural holdings took part – around 16 per cent of Bavarian holdings. The survey took place between March and May 2026 as part of the multiple application procedure. The Bavarian State Institute for Agriculture evaluated the information on securing electricity and water supplies and on stockpiling feed. The results show clear differences; on this basis, Bavaria wants to strengthen farms’ own preparedness with a package of measures for advice, education, funding and research and secure production even in times of crisis.
Editor’s note: The Council of Ministers’ decisions are political guidelines. Whether and when the Bundesrat initiative will be debated in the Bundestag and when an amendment to the Bavarian Civil Service Act could enter into force is not clear from the announcement.
