Urethanes are prepared by oxidative carbonylation of at least one amino compound in the presence of carbon monoxide, oxygen and organic, at least one hydroxyl-group-carrying compound. The carbonylation is carried out in the absence of halogen-containing promoters. The carbonylation is also carried out in the presence of a metal complex catalyst which contains neutral bidentate N-chelate ligands of the (N˜N) type, two monoanionic N,O-chelate ligands of the general type (N˜O)− or tetradentate dianionic chelate ligands (O˜N˜N˜O)2−.