The federal states are on the way to regulating the monitoring of compliance with the BFSG by a standardised market surveillance authority. The current status and consequences are documented here.

On 21 March 2025, the Regional Court of Cologne (case no. 84 O 29/24) prohibited an airline from advertising with flat-rate CO₂ compensation promises.

In its ruling of 6 February 2025 (case no. 15 U 43/24), the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg dismissed all competition law claims brought by the manufacturer of the well-known "Geo-Cube" necklaces against three cube necklaces sold via otto.de. The court found that the low-priced competitor products did not constitute an avoidable misrepresentation of origin or unfair exploitation of reputation and also clarified that the scope of protection under Section 4 No. 3 UWG remains narrow in the case of merely average competitive character.

In its judgement of 03.04.2025 - 4 U 29/24, the Higher Regional Court of Hamm confirmed the obvious on the interpretation of the JuSchG and made an exciting decision on the presentation requirements for the competitor position in a warning letter.

About the new EU guidelines for environmental advertising claims (green claims) and the associated legal requirements. The focus is on the EmpCo Directive, which introduces stricter rules for advertisers.

In a judgement dated 14 March 2025 - 7 HK O 50/23, which was obtained by HÄRTING Rechtsanwälte, the Regional Court of Trier ruled that a cease-and-desist declaration obtained by the IDO Interessenverband für das Rechts- und Finanzconsulting deutscher Online-Unternehmen e.V. (IDO) could be effectively terminated due to abuse of rights. Exceptionally, this cancellation also had retroactive effect on a contractual penalty that had already been claimed but not yet paid. The court found that the IDO may not demand contractual penalties because it lacks the authority to issue warnings as long as it is not entered in the list of trade associations of the Federal Office of Justice.

When does a customer review become advertising that must be attributed to the provider of a product? German courts have been dealing with this question for quite some time. The Bochum Regional Court (judgement of 21 November 2024 - 14 O 65/24) now had to decide in the case of a coffee roasting company, thereby supplementing the prevailing case law.

With its decision today, the Federal Court of Justice has confirmed Apple's cross-market significance for competition. The group, which is the most valuable company in the world with a market value of over 3 trillion US dollars, is now subject to increased supervision by the Federal Cartel Office.

The debate about a minimum fare for journeys with platforms such as Uber or Bolt is gathering pace in Berlin. While the introduction of such a tariff sounds like a setback for the car hire industry at first glance, it could also open up new opportunities. The background to this is the Passenger Transport Act (PBefG), which stipulates strict conditions for the introduction of a minimum fare. § Section 51a of the PBefG only permits a minimum fare if this is necessary to protect the public transport interest. But what does this mean in concrete terms for the hire car industry?

The rental costs for the additionally booked router must be listed in the contract summary for Internet and landline tariff contracts. This was decided by the Higher Regional Court of Cologne in its judgement of 10.01.2025 - 6 U 68/24.

As part of a preliminary ruling procedure, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) clarified in its judgement of 8 June 2023 (C-50/21 - "Prestige and Limousine") that unequal treatment between taxi companies and car hire companies (for which BOLT and UBER, among others, provide the platform) is inadmissible solely on the basis of economic arguments.