The invention relates to a monitoring apparatus for monitoring the operating state of a laser vehicle headlamp (4), wherein the laser vehicle headlamp (4) comprises at least one laser light source (5) and a light conversion element (6) that is illuminable by the laser light source (5) and hence excitable to emit visible light, wherein the monitoring apparatus has at least one photosensitive device (3) and a comparison device (1), wherein the photosensitive device (3) comprises at least one LED (D1) that is set up to convert light received from the laser light source (5) into an electrical signal (UD) that is supplied to the comparison device (1), wherein the comparison device (1) is set up to compare the electrical signal (UD) with a prescribable value and to output an error signal (Uo) on the basis of the result of the comparison.