Bremen was the first federal state in Germany that established an association law in animal welfare in 2007. It also was the first state that established an Association Law in Nature Conservation in 1979 on a state level. Thereupon, the Saarland (Association Law for recognised Animal Welfare Associations, TSVKG) and North Rhine Westphalia (Law on the Right of Associations to initiate legal proceedings and Rights of Participation for Animal Welfare Associations, TierschutzVMG NRW) established an Association Law on Animal Welfare in 2013, whereby North Rhine Westphalia abolished the law again in 2018. In 2014 Rhineland-Palatinate (State Law on the Rights of Participation and the Right to File Actions for recognised Animal Welfare Associations, TierSchLMVG) and Schleswig Holstein (Law on the Right of Animal Welfare Associations to sue) followed, Baden-Wuerttemberg (Law on Participation Rights and the Right of Associations to File Suits for Recognised Animal Welfare Organisations, TierSchMVG)  followed in 2015 and Lower Saxony  (Law on the Rights of Animal Welfare Organisations to Participate and to sue) followed in 2017. On 20th August 2020, the Berlin House of Representatives also passed an association law regarding animal welfare (Act on the Introduction of the Right of Animal Welfare Associations to sue, BlnTSVKG).

An association action is useful within animal welfare and nature conservation because violations do not concern individual rights but animals and nature. Since animals and nature cannot take legal action, they need to be represented through an association.

Due to association law, various kinds of suits are possible within different states. One can only claim for declaration in Bremen while an action for annulment, writ of mandamus and declaratory action is possible in Saarland or Rhineland-Palatinate.

The recognition requirements to use association law as an association are mostly identical in the federal states. An association that wants to be recognised needs to be registered as an unincorporated association or an independent foundation. Furthermore, the association has to constantly pursue the support of animal welfare, its registered office has to be within the relevant state and its field of activity has to extend within the whole national territory. Moreover, the association must have existed for at least five years and guarantee a proper fulfilment of its tasks. As in the context of other association actions, the applying association must be exempt from corporate income tax due to its non-profit status and offer the possibility for any person to join the association as a member.