New Laws and Regulations June 2015

Laws June 2015

Well well well, after Madaraka day celebrations yesterday, seems we forgot it was a new month. Anyhu, as always, here are the new regulations for this month.

Door-to-door Businesses

Ever had one of those sales people come to your door and try to convince you to get a new provider for your electricity or even internet, only for you to realise later that the product you signed up for was nothing like what they told you at the door?

Well this new regulation dictates that consumers have 12months and 14days to rethink their acceptance and cancel the contract. Anyone who might have signed such a contract any time before 13th June, you may have it revoked until 27th June.

 

Real Estate Agents

For the longest time the landlord/lady would get a real estate agent to advertise their house, and the new tenant would have to pay for the agent’s commission. With the new regulation, whoever seeks for the services for the agent will be the one to pay the commission, what they call the “Bestellerprinzip”.

 

Mietpreisbremse

This regulation basically aims to prevent unexpected inflation of rent prices as has been seen in many big cities. It dictates that house owners may only increase the rent price by at most 10% when a new tenant moves in. This will only apply in specific areas e.g. University towns or towns with high population.

This new regulation will only be effective in Berlin, all other States are still debating whether or not to introduce it. NRW could be the next State to introduce this regulation as of July 1st, but that is yet to be confirmed.

 

New warning sign on detergents

Whether drain cleaners, furniture polish or washing and cleaning products will have new warning signs from 1 June 2015. What was true since 1 December 2010 for products that have only one ingredient will now also include products with several chemical mixtures.

Commonly known hazard symbols will either get a new outfit or be replaced by new hazard pictograms. Thus, the famous ‘St Andrew’s Cross’ symbol will be replaced by three other icons that symbolize the type of danger.

Instead of the current black cross on an orange background, the new icon will now appear with a black cross in a white background with a red square as a border.

Furthermore, two words will be included on the package to indicate how dangerous the products really are. Instead of the usual “highly flammable” or “irritating”, the severity will now be indicated with “Caution” (for lower grades) and “Danger” (for higher grades).

The new symbols are based on the United Nations system for chemical substances and mixtures (the Globally Harmonized System, GHS). This is applied in the European Union for washing, care and cleaning products that must be labeled as dangerous.

Mixtures with the old labels cannot be on the shelves by mid-2017.

 

Terror Suspects to IDs withdrawn

German terror suspects will from this month also have their ID in addition to their passports taken away to prevent them from taking part in wars e.g. in Syria or Iraq. Earlier, terror suspects would only have their passports withdrawn and not their ID. There are currently over 700 German muslims fighting in the crisis regions, with some having returned to the country.

 

Safety in the Work Place

In a move to reduce accidents and increase safety for employees in their work places the Federal Ministry of Labour has officially banned the use of the vertical carousels, (the old wooden lifts that never stop) by the public. Only employees are allowed to use it and only under specific requirements.

After public uproar, this might be reversed by end of the year.

paternoster Vertical Carousel lift aufzug

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