Stiftung Warentest publishes product tests that can make or break a product. In the 1970s a maker of ski safety bindings sued the foundation over a comparative test. On 9 December 1975 the Federal Court of Justice set the standard for such tests. The investigation must be neutral, objektiv, and sachkundig durchgeführt, carried out with expertise. The court said that nicht die objektive Richtigkeit eines gewonnenen Ergebnisses im Vordergrund steht, sondern das Bemühen um diese Richtigkeit. The objective correctness of a result is not what counts first. What counts is the effort to reach it. Testers have einen erheblichen Spielraum, a considerable latitude, in their methods. A test becomes unlawful when its examination and conclusions are no longer vertretbar, defensible. The same yardstick works the other way. In 2014 Warentest lost a case over the chocolate Ritter Sport Voll-Nuss. The Munich higher regional court found that Warentest had not proven which kind of flavoring the chocolate contained. It had geschlussfolgert, inferred it. Warentest accepted the ruling of 9 September 2014. Its board member Hubertus Primus said the report had nicht präzise und ausführlich genug dargelegt, had not explained precisely and fully enough, how it reached its verdict on the label.
retail
What Schlecker Was Convicted For
Schlecker was once Germany’s best-known drugstore chain, with thousands of small branches. In January 2012 it filed for insolvency. Several thousand employees lost their jobs. The founder, Anton Schlecker, stood trial in Stuttgart. The failure of the chain was not the charge. Insolvenzverursachung an sich ist kein Straftatbestand, causing an insolvency is not in itself a criminal offense. The central question of the trial was when Schlecker had recognized, or should have recognized, that the company could not pay its debts. On 27 November 2017 the regional court found that he and his children knew by 1 February 2011 at the latest, after a business report for 2010 had come in. After that date Schlecker had moved assets of about 3.6 million euros aside. The court convicted him of intentional bankruptcy in four cases and gave him a two-year suspended sentence. His children Lars and Meike received prison terms of two years and nine months and two years and eight months. A pharmacy trade news report summed up the line the law draws: Schlecker ist dafür verantwortlich, man kann ihm die Schuld daran geben. Dafür schuldig sprechen kann man ihn nicht. Schlecker is responsible for the collapse, and one can blame him for it. One cannot convict him for it.
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 Seller, Not the Manufacturer
Under German warranty law, the seller answers for defects. The consumer advice center in Lower Saxony puts it plainly: Bei Mängeln ist der Verkäufer Ihr erster Ansprechpartner – nicht der Hersteller. For defects, the seller is your first contact, not the manufacturer. A customer reported a faulty fridge-freezer to the online shop of the electronics chain Media Markt. The shop replied by email that he should contact the manufacturer directly. The Federal Consumer Organization sued. In July 2026 the regional court of Ingolstadt held that customers could read the email als habe Media Markt mit der Reklamation selbst nichts mehr zu tun, as if Media Markt no longer had anything to do with the complaint. Further violations can cost up to 250,000 euros.
Marked as Not Binding
Every German shopper knows the letters UVP on a price tag: unverbindliche Preisempfehlung, the manufacturer’s non-binding recommended price. A shop may compare its own price with a higher manufacturer’s price only if that price is clearly labeled in this way. Vaguer terms such as list price are not allowed for this comparison, because they are ambiguous. Everyday German marks other figures in the same way. Lottery numbers come with Angaben ohne Gewähr, information without guarantee. Offers say freibleibend or Änderungen vorbehalten, subject to change. Section 145 of the Civil Code explains why such markers matter. Whoever offers a contract is bound by the offer, unless he has excluded being bound.
Two Repair Attempts
A German shopper who returns a broken phone or appliance must usually give the seller a chance to repair it. Section 440 of the Civil Code sets the number. Eine Nachbesserung gilt nach dem erfolglosen zweiten Versuch als fehlgeschlagen … A repair counts as failed after the second unsuccessful attempt, unless the nature of the item or the defect points otherwise. After that, the buyer may withdraw from the contract or reduce the price without setting a further deadline. The consumer advice center in Baden-Württemberg puts it plainly: Normalerweise hat der Händler zweimal die Möglichkeit, die mangelhafte Ware zu reparieren. Normally the dealer has two chances to repair the faulty goods.
Shops Close at Two on Christmas Eve
When 24 December falls on a working day, Monday to Saturday, shops in Germany may open only until 2 p.m. In 2017, Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday. Several states let some shops open for a few hours that morning, and all of them had to close by 2 p.m. Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate kept supermarkets closed that day.
Reading the Weekly Flyers
About 60 percent of German consumers look at supermarket advertising flyers at least once a week. This was the result of a survey of 1,300 adults by the consultancy Oliver Wyman, published in September 2022. Co-author Jens von Wedel named the reason: “Es geht zumeist um eine sparsame Haushaltsführung.” It is mostly about running the household economically.
According to the market researcher GfK, more than 80 percent of flyer readers would switch to another store for an offer.
The Defective Copy
New books in Germany have fixed prices by law. One exception is the Mängelexemplar, the defective copy. A book with visible damage or faults may be sold below the fixed price. It must be marked, usually with a stamp reading Mängelexemplar on the bottom edge of the pages. The publishers’ and booksellers’ association adds the reverse rule. A new book stamped as defective without actually being soiled, damaged or otherwise faulty may not be sold below the fixed price.
Service Desert Germany
Servicewüste, service desert, is the standard German complaint about unhelpful customer service. The management professor Hermann Simon is credited with coining it in 1995. By 2001 a management yearbook called Servicewüste Deutschland a widely voiced cliché. In 2024 a GfK survey for the Foundation for Future Studies found that only 27 of 100 Germans think Der Kunde ist König, the customer is king, still holds. In 2019 it was 48. The foundation offered an explanation. Wenn die Dienstleistung zur vollen Zufriedenheit vorhanden ist, wird dieses als Normalzustand gesehen. When a service is delivered to full satisfaction, it is seen as the normal state.