A number called and you want to know whether it is known. There is an official source for that: the enforcement list of Germany’s Federal Network Agency. It is free, public – and a PDF of 179 pages.
What is on the list
The authority pursues number misuse and publishes, on a rolling basis, what it has acted against. Every row carries four items: the date of the order, the numbers concerned, a category and the measure – as a rule disconnection on a given day.
How to look a number up
- Open the pagebundesnetzagentur.de/massnahmenliste
- Load the PDFthe current list or a yearly archive
- Ctrl+Fopen the PDF viewer’s search
- Enter the numberno spaces, national form: 0301234567
Two things regularly go wrong. First the notation: the list holds numbers in national form without separators. Searching for “+49 30 1234567” finds nothing even though the number is there. Second the period: the linked file covers only the recent months. An older measure sits in the yearly archive, which has to be opened separately – the archives go back to 2016.
What the list is not
- Not a spam register. It records cases with an order, not every nuisance caller. The ordinary advertising call usually ends without an entry.
- No information on the holder. For an ordinary number you will not learn here who owns it.
- No interface. There is only PDF – no CSV, no API, no search across all years.
- No permanent verdict. Anything older than six months disappears from the current file.
And who is behind a premium-rate number
For the premium ranges there is a second, separate enquiry: the number search for premium services. It shows who a number from 0900, 0137 and related ranges is assigned to. That is the more useful source when such a number was on the display – the enforcement list only says something about numbers already acted against.
Why 179 pages are no tool for a business
For a single number Ctrl+F is fine. For a company with a hundred calls a day it is not: nobody opens a PDF for every ring. And nobody notices when the file has been replaced.
Haus iT Caller ID therefore reads the list itself, once a day, and matches it in-house. If an incoming number is on it, the panel says so at the moment the phone rings – with the date of the order and the category. The edition of 29 September 2026 holds 9,978 numbers, among them 170 different country codes: the typical wangiri ranges from East Africa, Central Asia and the Balkans.
The matching happens in-house, not at a service. A live query would send your caller’s number to a third party; in a law firm or a medical practice even the fact of who is calling is protected. Downloaded and checked locally, no number of yours leaves your house.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find out whether a phone number has been shut down?
Germany’s Federal Network Agency publishes its measures as a PDF at bundesnetzagentur.de/massnahmenliste. Open the file and search with Ctrl+F for the number – without spaces and in national notation, for example 0301234567. The linked file covers the last six months; older measures are in the yearly archives below it.
How many numbers does the regulator shut down?
In 2024 it was around 6,500 numbers, plus around 1,100 bans on billing and debt collection. Behind them were 154,624 complaints, after 143,061 the year before (press release of 15 January 2025).
Are all cold callers on the list?
No, far from it. The list records cases in which the authority issued an order – mostly spam SMS, messenger messages, dialers and internet pop-ups. The ordinary nuisance advertising call usually ends without an entry. Treating the list as a spam register overestimates it.
Is the list available as CSV or through an API?
No. There are only PDF files, split by period. Anyone wanting to use the list automatically has to extract it – the authority offers no interface.
How long does a number stay on the list?
The page carries the measures of the last six months; the archives hold the older ones by year. A number dropping out is correct: a disconnected number returns to the number pool and may later be assigned to another, honest company.
Who is behind a premium-rate number?
There is a separate enquiry for that: the German regulator’s number search for premium services. It shows who a number from those ranges is assigned to. For ordinary numbers no such enquiry exists.