In 1991 Environment Minister Klaus Töpfer put the packaging ordinance into force. It contained a rule designed to act on its own. If the share of reusable drink containers fell below its 1991 level of 72 percent, and a second count confirmed it, a deposit on one-way containers would follow. Germans call this the Pfandautomatismus, the deposit automatism. In 1997 the share fell just below 72 percent. After the confirming count and a long political fight, the deposit applied from 1 January 2003.