The responsibility of the board of directors and the supervisory board of the publicly listed stock corporation in the event of non-compliance with the mandatory provisions of the German Corporate Governance Code (DCGK), the submission of a faulty declaration of conformity according to § 161 AktG, and the negligent failure to submit the declaration of conformity required under § 161 AktG is becoming increasingly important. In recent years, a corporate governance debate has taken place in corporate and capital market law. This led to the DCGK, developed by a government commission in 2002. The DCGK received legal support through the introduction of the declaration of conformity (EE) in § 161 AktG, which requires the board of directors and the supervisory board to declare their position on the DCGK. General aspects concerning the DCGK (structure, addressees, legal character) and the EE (content, time horizon) are clarified.