This article is written against the backdrop of the work of the European standardisation committees on the amendment of EN 1996-1-1 [N 4] which will also exert an influence on the design of reinforced masonry in Germany.
This paper focusses on the design approaches of DIN EN 1996-1-1 for untensioned reinforced masonry beams under shear load in the ultimate limit state (ULS). Proposals are made to discuss their revision. The contents of E DIN 1053-3 [N 3] and of the final draft of the guideline ”Flat Lintels” [7] are taken into account.