Tannet Group Limited has incorporated at 1988, and running business in Germany and EU for few years, we can help you running the business at Germany, the following article is introduce the visa and immigration policy of Germany, and we do hope it can be useful for you.

Introduction:
The EU’s trade-related legislation comprises the basis for Germany’s national trade-related legislation, especially in the spheres of general interest to Hong Kong’s businesses interested in the EU. Such is the case in all matters concerning international trade with third countries (e.g., the full body of EU customs law including the common customs tariff and the trade defense measures - such as anti-dumping measures - that must be applied by the German customs authorities), but also in the case of regulatory measures vis-a-vis international trade: those concerning, among others, product safety and standards, labeling requirements and environmental regulations.
We provide below specific national regulatory requirements which are believed to be of some concern to Hong Kong businesses. For a more profound analysis of all the regulatory laws particularly as they relate to consumer goods placed on the EU market, Hong Kong businesses may refer to the relevant EU sections above. Such laws (and standards) are required to be transposed and implemented in all the EU Member States.

Product Standards:
According to German law, products may only be placed on the market if the safety and health of users and third parties are not put at risk. These general requirements are concretized by way of ordinances and further by standards for product groups and individual products.
The German standardization body for the elaboration of product standards is the Deutsches Institut fur Normung, or DIN (http://www.din.de). Standards in the area of electrical engineering, electronic and information technologies, care dealt with by the DKE (Deutsche Kommission Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik im DIN und VDE, http://www.dke.de). The DKE is a joint organization for the DIN and the VDE (the German Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies).

The product standards issued by the DIN can easily be recognized by the abbreviation DIN (standards in the area of electrical engineering, electronic and information technologies start with the letters DIN’). The standard ‘DIN 49848’ for example contains requirements regarding light bulbs for bicycles. Standards are increasingly based on international (ISO or IEC) or European (EN) standards. The DIN is the body representing Germany in the international organizations elaborating those standards, such as CEN or CENELEC on the European level, or ISO or IEC on the international level.

The denomination of an individual German DIN code reflects if and to what extent international standards are transposed by such code, as illustrated by the following examples:
‧ DIN 4701 would be a standard which is exclusively or primarily of national scope. A draft standard is identified by an‘E’, a pre-standard is identified by a‘V’, e.g. DIN V 18599.
‧ DIN EN 71 would be a standard which is based on a European standard. Such a code stands for the“German version”of a European standard which is transposed without changes into the various national standardization systems. Codes of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute are identified by the letter sequence DIN ETS.
‧ DIN EN ISO 306 would be a standard which is based both on an international and a European standard. In such a case, a European standard is elaborated on the basis of an ISO-standard, and is then transposed into the national German DIN system.
‧ DIN ISO 720 would be a standard which directly transposes an international standard into the national system. Other examples are DIN IEC 60446 or DIN ISO/IEC 22534, which transposes standards, set by the International Electrotechnical Commission.

To the extent that new European harmonized standards are enacted, the purely national German DIN standards are withdrawn. It should also be noted that the compliance with any of the above-mentioned DIN standards is not legally binding, as the DIN is a private association. DIN standards can only be legally binding if they are for example incorporated in a contract between private parties or if the law refers to them. However, German law establishes a legal presumption for European harmonized standards (EN standards which have been enacted in the framework of the New Approach Directives and have been published in the Official Journal of the EU) and for standards which have been identified by the Committee for Technical Working Appliances and Consumer Products and have been published in the German Federal Gazette, that the products for which a manufacturer chooses to observe these standards are deemed to be in compliance with the health and safety requirements of the applicable law and/or ordinance. If the manufacturer opts not to follow such standard, then the onus of proof that his product(s) is/are in conformity with applicable health and safety requirements rests on him. In addition, authorities and courts are likely to rely on DIN standards as guidance, even if these are not based on European harmonized standards or have not been identified by the above—mentioned Committee and published in the German Federal Gazette.
It can therefore be in the manufacturer’s interest to observe these standards for products placed on the German market.

Labeling Requirements:

a) General
German law provides in general that, if, for safety or health reasons, certain rules regarding the use, completion or maintenance of a product have to be observed, a user manual in the German language has to be supplied with the product when placing it on the market. Similarly, if safety and health can only be guaranteed by a certain way of installation of the product, this has to be pointed out when the product is placed on the market.
As concerns in particular consumer goods, the obligations are more extensive: manufacturers and importers, each within their respective business activities, are obliged to make sure that the user obtains the necessary information enabling him to assess the risks emanating from the product and to take the necessary protective measures. They are also obliged to indicate name and address of the manufacturer (or, if the latter is not based in the European Economic Area, that of the authorized representative or the importer) on the product or its packaging, and to label the product in a way that it can clearly be identified, except if the omission of this information is justifiable because the user is already aware of it or because it would be disproportionately complex to affix such information. In addition, depending on the characteristics of the consumer product, they have to be prepared to take the necessary measures to avoid risks, such as withdrawing the product from the market, issuing appropriate and effective warnings, recalling the product from consumers, taking samples, verifying complaints from customers and keeping dealers informed with regard to relevant information concerning the product.
The competent authority has the power to order the manufacturer/importer to affix a warning on the product regarding risks emanating from the product. Such warnings have to be in German.

b) Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market must be indelibly marked in such a way that the producer is easily identifiable and that it is recognizable that the equipment was placed on the market after 13 August 2005. Equipment which can be used in private households must also be marked with a crossed-out wheeled bin in order to inform the consumer that lie/she shall not dispose of the product together with regular household waste. Where the product’s size or function make it necessary, the symbol must be printed on the packaging, the instructions or the warranty for the electrical or electronic equipment.

c) Foodstuffs
As regards food labeling, the requirements are to a large extent harmonized on the EU level. They stipulate, among others, the following basic labeling requirements:
‧ Denomination: the appropriate denomination of the foodstuff is mentioned in the legal provisions applicable to the type of food concerned. Otherwise a denomination has to be chosen which sufficiently informs the customer of the content of the product.
‧ Manufacturer information: name or company name and address of the manufacturer, packer or seller of the product.
‧ Ingredients: all substances, including additives, used during manufacture and present in the final product. In the case of ready— made meals, for example, these substances have to be mentioned in descending order following their weight proportion. Regarding certain products such as fresh fruit and vegetables or drinks with an alcohol content of more than 1 .2 percent by volume (except for beer) such a list of ingredients is not necessary.
‧‘Best before’date: this is the date by which the food maintains, under the recommended storage conditions, its specific qualities. The food might still be fit for consumption after the expiry of the‘best before’date, but a critical assessment of the product by the consumer is recommended before such consumption. Fresh fruit and vegetables or drinks with an alcohol content of 1 0 or more percent by volume are exempt from this obligation.
‧ For easily perishable foodstuffs which can represent a hazard to human health after a short time period such as minced meat, the‘to use by’labeling (instead of the‘best before’labeling) must be used and the storage conditions to be observed must be indicated. Such foodstuffs may not be sold after the expiry of the ‘to use by’ date.
Next to these basic requirements, there are numerous specific labeling requirements for specific sectors (e.g. milk and milk products, oil and fat, wine, meat and meat products).

d) Origin Marking
According to German law, markings of geographical origin are not compulsory. However, if used, such markings of geographical origin may not be used for goods or services which do not come from the location, area or country indicated, if such indication could be misleading. The assessment whether markings of geographical origin (e.g. a product “Made in Germany”) are misleading or not can be difficult and depends on the individual circumstances of the case. The geographical origin is not determined by rules of origin in the sense of customs law. Rather, the “expectations of business (consumers and producers alike)” as to the place of production serve as a benchmark.
An origin marking is not misleading if the product has received “its essential parts and qualities” at the place indicated as the place of origin. This criterion is still very vague. For a clock to be correctly labeled as a “Schwarzwalder Uhr”, for example, it is probably not sufficient to have individual parts manufactured in the Schwarzwald region, whereas the complete assembly process takes place in, say, Hungary. In that case, one could hardly say that the clock has received its “essential quality” (namely that of being a functioning clock and not just a collection of individual parts) in the Schwarzwald region. On the other hand, the fact that a number of individual parts of the clock are not made in the Schwarzwald region would most likely not prevent it from still being regarded as an “Original Schwarzwalder Uhr” by potential customers or competitors. The most distinctive feature of a “Schwarzwalder Uhr” is the clock case, so that it is even possible that the “expectations of business” are fulfilled although the clock mechanism is manufactured somewhere else.

It is possible that a potentially misleading effect of a marking of origin is “neutralized” by additional indications. For example, the marking“Italian noodles” could be misleading for German consumers, who would expect such noodles to come from Italy. However, the marking 1/Noodles Italian style” would probably be sufficient to make clear that the noodles concerned were not necessarily manufactured in Italy, and thus would not be deemed to be misleading.
Markings of origin which enjoy a particular reputation may never be used other than for the original product, even if there is no risk of misleading the consumer, if such use would amount to an abuse of the reputation of the origin denomination: the advertising slogan “a champagne among mineral waters”, for example, was thus deemed by a German court to abuse the good reputation of the origin denomination “champagne”, even though it was clear from the context that the product concerned was a mineral water, and not champagne.

According to information obtained from the Federal Ministry of Justice, the legislator plans, as part of a new draft law on law enforcement in the area of intellectual property, to improve the protection of markings of geographical origin. For example, for a potential violation of a marking of geographical origin, it is planned that the owner of the right will be able to request the presentation of documents from the person infringing the right (this right might also include bank, financial and trade documents) and to inspect goods. These rights go beyond the provisions which are already set out in the Civil Procedure Code. Furthermore, it is planned that criminal law sanctions will be introduced for the breach of rights related to geographical markings of origin which are protected at a European level, pursuant to Regulation 510/2006 (protection of agricultural and food products).

All the information and data above is only for reference, for further information, please feel free to contact us.