FernUSG and Online Coaching: What Coaches Need to Know

Does the FernUSG apply to online fitness coaching in Germany?

Possibly, yes. On 12.06.2025 (III ZR 109/24) Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the Distance Learning Protection Act (Fernunterrichtsschutzgesetz, FernUSG) also applies to online coaching and mentoring, even when the customer is a business, and that a contract without approval from the ZFU, the state body that licenses distance learning, is void. Lawyers' reading is that fitness programmes with pre-recorded videos, plans and check-ins where the client can ask questions may fall under it, while pure 1:1 live sessions are less likely to; there is no ruling specifically on fitness coaching so far.

This reflects the situation in October 2026. It is not legal advice. Only a lawyer looking at your contract can tell you whether your particular offer counts as distance learning (Fernunterricht).

What the law means by distance learning

The definition is in §1(1) FernUSG. Distance learning is the paid, contractually agreed teaching of knowledge and skills where teacher and learner are mostly physically separated and the learning progress is monitored. All the criteria have to be met together. The BGH now applies this explicitly to digital offers.

That last criterion is the real surprise for coaches. Many assumed that without exams or tests there is no monitoring of learning progress. According to the summary by the law firm Noerr, though, the BGH considers the possibility to ask questions in meetings, by email or in a forum to be enough.

The ruling of 12 June 2025 in brief

The case was not about fitness. It concerned a 9-month business mentoring programme called "Finanzielle Fitness" ("financial fitness") costing €47,600. The provider had no approval. The BGH declared the contract void, and the participant got everything back. According to the IHK Karlsruhe (the regional chamber of commerce), compensation for services already provided is only due if the client demonstrably saved something.

Three points from the ruling affect fitness coaches directly:

• The law does not only protect consumers. It also applies if you coach businesses, for example as part of a corporate health programme.
• Recorded live calls count as asynchronous in Noerr's assessment, which pushes them towards distance learning.
• The consequence is set out in §7 FernUSG: without approval under §12, the contract is void. That puts your fee on shaky ground.

Live or recorded: the February 2026 ruling

In a further ruling of 05.02.2026 (III ZR 137/25), according to the law firm Cornea Franz, the BGH drew a line: purely live, two-way teaching, by video with immediate feedback, is not physical separation in the sense of the law. For mixed offers, the content of the contract decides.

For fitness coaches this is the most important distinction. A coach who supervises every session live on video and corrects as they go is in a different position from a coach who puts a plan in the app, provides technique videos and answers check-ins once a week.

Which offers may be affected

The following table is an assessment derived from the rulings, the way lawyers read them. It is not a ruling on fitness coaching and does not replace a review of your contract.

What I often see in practice: coaches describe their offer as a "course", "certification" or "academy" in their sales copy because it sounds premium, and then mostly deliver individual coaching. Wording like that can push the offer towards teaching knowledge. The contract and the sales page should describe what you actually do.

What a void contract means for you as a coach

Take a simple example. Online coaching in Germany typically costs €80 to €250 a month, according to an overview by Coachway. A client who pays €150 for 12 months has paid you €1,800. If the contract is void, they can claim that money back, and to keep anything you would have to prove what they saved through your coaching. With 20 clients you are quickly talking about five-figure sums.

The risk is not that every client asks for their money back tomorrow. The risk is the one unhappy client who talks to a lawyer after the programme. Anyone who knows about the FernUSG has a strong negotiating position.

Your options if your offer might be affected

1. Look into ZFU approval. The responsible body is the Staatliche Zentralstelle für Fernunterricht (ZFU), the state central office for distance learning. We could not find reliable figures on fees or processing time; ask them directly before you plan around it.
2. Build the offer around live work. If the main service is genuine two-way live coaching and the contract says so, the position after the 2026 ruling looks different. Whether that is enough for your mix of live calls and app content is a question for your lawyer.
3. Word your contract and sales page honestly. Describe what you deliver: individual coaching, plan writing, live appointments. No course terminology if you do not run a course.
4. Use in-person elements. If you already train clients in person, you can build hybrid packages where the online part supports the in-person work. What these models look like is covered in our post on hybrid personal training.
5. Get legal advice. Before you sell a new programme or change existing contracts. How to handle contracts that are already running belongs in the same conversation.

One option is deliberately missing from this list: removing the option to ask questions. Under the BGH, the mere possibility to ask questions already counts as monitoring of learning progress. And coaching with no questions at all would not be coaching any more.

Austria and Switzerland

We did not find an approval law in Austria or Switzerland that corresponds to the German FernUSG. That does not mean there are no rules for online coaching there; it only means our research could not confirm a comparable approval requirement. If you coach clients in Germany from Vienna or Zurich, check with a lawyer which law governs your contracts.

Where software comes in, and where it does not

A coaching platform does not decide whether your offer is distance learning. Quite the opposite: the tools that make online coaching good, training plans in an app, videos for every exercise, check-ins and chat, are exactly the elements lawyers look at when they assess it. How you use them and how you describe your offer in the contract is your decision.

In Trainera you build training and nutrition plans, use a library of 1,800+ exercises with video and 1,100+ recipes, and run check-ins and chat with clients. For payments you choose between "Request only" (price agreed outside the app), a monthly subscription by card, plan-based payment and cash payments; PayPal and bank transfer are also available. For clients you train in person, you record cash payments directly.

Prices as shown on trainera.fit/pricing for Germany and Austria; paying yearly costs ten times the monthly price. Switzerland has its own prices in francs: Starter from CHF 19.90, Pro from CHF 49.90 and Business from CHF 99 a month. If you are still working out what your offer should look like, read how to structure an online coaching offer and, for the business side, our overview of working as a self-employed personal trainer in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Four questions to take to your lawyer

• Does my programme, as described in the contract and on the sales page, fall under §1 FernUSG?
• Is my live element enough for there to be no physical separation under the February 2026 ruling, or do the plan and video library define the offer?
• How do I handle existing client contracts signed before any change?
• Is an application to the ZFU worth it in my case, and what do I need to prepare for it?

With these questions and your current contract in hand, a consultation is much shorter and cheaper than going in unprepared.

Plans, check-ins, chat and payments for your coaching in one place: see Trainera for personal trainers.