Fairness and transparency of business practices

When founding a company, you should pay attention to fairness and transparency. The following should be avoided unfair business practices such as

Aggressive business practices

• Creating the impression that consumers cannot leave the salesroom without having concluded a purchase contract.
• Personal visits to a consumer's home, ignoring the consumer's request to leave or not to return.

Misleading practices

• Falsely claiming to be a signatory to a code of conduct of a code of conduct.
• Describing a product as being available "free", "free", "free of charge" or similar, even though consumers have to pay any costs other than the unavoidable costs.

Consumers' rights of withdrawal

Consumers' rights of withdrawal are primarily defined in the German Civil Code (BGB). In certain cases, consumers can withdraw from the contract within a 14-day period. period from a contract that they have concluded with a company (consumer contract) without giving reasons.

Modern forms of selling goods and services entail the risk of consumers being taken by surprise when concluding the contract. They may not be adequately informed about the content and meaning of the contract. Therefore, in the case of special forms of distribution, i.e. consumer contracts concluded away from business premises, so-called " doorstep selling " and for distance selling contracts a right of withdrawal according to § 312g BGB . The right of revocation applies to consumer contracts which have a paid service of the entrepreneur as their object in accordance with § 312 para. 1 BGB . Excluded from the right of withdrawal are those in § 312 para. 2 BGB such as notarial contracts, contracts for land, building contracts, passenger transportation, treatment contracts, immediately fulfilled minor contracts with a value of no more than EUR 40.00.

Unfair contract terms

According to EU law, the standard contract terms used by a trader must be fair. If certain terms in a contract are unfair, they are not binding on consumers and traders cannot rely on them. You can find more detailed information on unfair contract terms at the link .

Regulations relating to the safety and protection of products sold to consumers

All products may be made available to others by economic operators such as manufacturers, authorized representatives, importers or distributors. To this end, they must be safe when used as intended and comply with the relevant legal requirements. The regulations of the European Community (EC) stipulate that certain products such as machines, toys or electrical devices must be marked with the CE mark also known as CE marking.

With this CE mark, manufacturers and their authorized representatives declare that the product has been manufactured in accordance with the applicable European health and safety requirements. The CE mark must be:

• clearly visible,
• legible and
• permanently affixed to the product.

An important task in connection with product safety is the market surveillance . This task is intended to ensure that the respective requirements, for example in connection with the safe use of the product, are fulfilled by the individual economic operators. To this end, the market surveillance authorities randomly inspect products and approach the economic operators concerned in the event of defects.

• Product liability If, despite all safety precautions and tests, a product has been placed on the market incorrectly, you may be liable.

• Product responsibility Another important area is product responsibility. This means that you, as the manufacturer, are responsible for the entire "life cycle" of a product - i.e. from the initial design through to environmentally sound disposal. In Germany, the relevant EU directives are implemented, for example, by the Ordinances on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, Packaging, End-of-Life Vehicles and Waste Oil, as well as the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act and the Batteries Act are implemented.

Fair consumer contracts

On March 1, 2022, regulations for fairer consumer contracts ( Act for fair consumer contracts ) came into force. These ensure that,

• that consumers can automatic contract renewals for contracts for regular deliveries of goods and services such as streaming services or magazine subscriptions much more quickly.
• A cancellation button obligation would be introduced to simplify termination processes. A obligation to confirm receipt of the termination complements the button. This is intended to clearly communicate to consumers that their notice of termination has been received.
• Energy supply energy supply contracts must also be confirmed in writing, for example by letter, e-mail or text message.

• German Civil Code (BGB)
• Electrical and Electronics Act
• Battery law
• Law for fair consumer contracts