Germany

Checking a retailer established in Germany

Germany has the best observed compliance with identification duties of the five countries. Section 5 of the Telemedia Act requires an Impressum stating the legal form, the legal representative, the register and the registration number. In return the register itself is not freely searchable, which makes the company's own declaration the primary source.

81 retailer profiles in this country

Two registers, and a frequent confusion

Capital companies carry an HRB number, while registered sole traders and limited partnerships carry an HRA. A check accepting only the HRB format would wrongly reject properly registered companies. A limited partnership also carries two numbers, its own and that of its managing company: the former is the contracting party, so it is the one to record.

Search engine snippets are unusable here

Five errors were found when cross-checking search engine snippets against the actual Impressum. In one, the company name, the address and the number were all wrong: the company named was not the one operating the site. Two others gave the managing company's number instead of the partnership's. This is why every number published here was read in the Impressum itself.

What a buyer can rely on

An incomplete Impressum is enforced in German law through the Abmahnung, a formal warning letter that a competitor or an association may serve on the publisher. It is used far more widely than equivalent mechanisms elsewhere in Europe, which explains the compliance rate observed.

Each profile cites the Impressum as published on the date of collection, with the register number it contains.

Ready-to-wear

Leather goods

Footwear

Jewellery and watches

Luxury multibrand

Sport

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