A certified translation for a German authority, such as a birth certificate or a diploma, carries the translator’s confirmation that it is complete and correct. Saxony’s law on interpreters and translators said in its 2016 version that the translator hat die Richtigkeit und Vollständigkeit der von ihm angefertigten Übersetzungen zu bestätigen, must confirm the correctness and completeness of the translation. The confirmation must state if only part of the document was translated. It should also point out illegible words, changes or omissions in the original.
The Record of the Advice
Since 1 January 2010, every German bank customer who receives investment advice has had the right to a written record of it. The record notes, among other things, the reason for the advice, the length of the conversation, the customer’s personal situation and the recommendations made. In 2012 the market watch of the Federal Consumer Organization ran 50 test consultations, which produced 42 records. So enthielt kein einziges Protokoll alle relevanten Informationen. Not a single record contained all the relevant information.
Every Known Side Effect
In Germany a finished medicine may only be sold with a package leaflet in German. The manufacturer must list all known side effects, sorted into fixed frequency classes. The wording runs from sehr häufig, very common, to sehr selten, very rare. A common class reads: Häufig (kann bis zu 1 von 10 Behandelten betreffen), common, may affect up to 1 in 10 people treated. The result is the long folded Beipackzettel that Germans find in every box. A health scientist at the University of Hamburg writes that the leaflets sind juristische Dokumente zur Absicherung der Hersteller, keine Patienteninformationen. They are legal documents that protect the manufacturer, not information for patients.
The Building and Its Paperwork
When a contractor finishes a public building job in Germany, the client typically requires the Revisionsunterlagen: plans of the building as built, operating and maintenance instructions, test certificates and data sheets. The city of Mülheim an der Ruhr publishes its requirements for tenders. The documents must arrive at least three weeks before acceptance, in two paper copies and a digital copy. Their content muss einem unbeteiligten Dritten den störungsfreien Betrieb eines Gebäudes ermöglichen. It must allow an outside party who was not involved to run the building without disruption. If the documents are missing or incomplete, the city can refuse acceptance and hold back part of the final payment.
The Release Dossier
A supplier to the German car industry may not begin series deliveries until its parts pass the Produktionsprozess- und Produktfreigabe, the production process and product approval, set out in Volume 2 of the German Association of the Automotive Industry. The first samples must be made vollständig mit serienmäßigen Betriebsmitteln und unter serienmäßigen Bedingungen, fully with series tooling under series conditions. One supplier guideline lists what goes with them: an inspection report with the measured value for every dimension on the drawing, the process flow chart, the control plan, and the approval status of the whole supply chain. Erstmuster ohne Erstmusterdokumentation können nicht bearbeitet werden. First samples without first-sample documentation cannot be processed. Every change to the product or the process must go through the procedure again, at least inside the supplier’s own plant.
The Assembly Instructions Are Part of the Product
In Germany, faulty assembly instructions make the product itself defective. The rule has applied since the reform of the law of obligations on 1 January 2002. Lawyers and consumer guides call it the Ikea-Klausel, the IKEA clause. Under Section 434 of the Civil Code, goods are free of defects only if they come with the assembly or installation instructions a buyer can expect. A wardrobe assembled wrongly because of a mistake in the seller’s instructions counts as defective goods. Where rules must be followed in use, the Product Safety Act also requires instructions in deutscher Sprache, in German.
The Coordinator Without Authority
On a German building site, each trade works under its own contract and its own employer. When employees of several employers work on one site, the client must appoint a safety and health coordinator, the SiGeKo. The rule has applied since the building site ordinance took effect on 1 July 1998. The coordinator draws up the safety plan and coordinates how the firms work together. He is not their boss. The Bavarian model contract for public building projects gives him no power to issue instructions. Except in imminent danger, he reports problems: In allen anderen Fällen sind der Objektüberwacher und der Auftraggeber auf kurzem Wege zu informieren. In all other cases, the site supervisor and the client are to be informed directly.
The Fan Officer
Every club in the top two German football divisions must have a Fanbeauftragter, a fan officer, as the supporters’ named contact. The rules have required a fan contact since 1992. The league’s handbook for fan officers marks out the role. He is the face of the club to the fans and follows the club’s instructions. But he leistet ausdrücklich keine soziale Arbeit, explicitly does no social work. That belongs to the independent fan projects, which are youth welfare bodies. Security belongs to stewards, security officers and the police. In December 2025 the league decided that Bundesliga clubs will have six fan officers instead of three.
Lost on the Train
Things left on most German trains go to the DB Fundservice, whose central office is in Wuppertal. Its page says it accepts reports only for items lost on trains of the railway companies it lists. For any other railway, setzen Sie sich bitte mit der jeweiligen Bahn in Verbindung, please contact that railway.
Only Your Own Landlord
In a German building divided into owner-occupied apartments, a manager looks after the shared property: roof, facade, stairwell. A tenant who rents one of these apartments has a contract only with its owner. That holds even when the defect is in the shared property. Professor Florian Jacoby, in a paper published by the German Tenants’ Association, states: Der Mieter kann nur seinen Vermieter in Anspruch nehmen. The tenant can make claims only against his landlord.