New Laws and Regulations October 2015

Kama Kawaida the monthly update of the laws and regulations of the land.

Minimum Wage for Nurses and Employees in Waste Management

Nurses and assistants working in nursing homes for patients suffering from dementia will receive a minimum wage of €9,40 in West Germany and €8,65 in Eastern Germany. These figures will further be increased in January 2017 to  €10.20 in the west and €9.50 in the east.

Employees within the waste management sector including street cleaners and those that clear up snow in the winter will receive a minimum wage of €8,94 per hour. This will apply until end of the year. From January 1st 2016 until March 31st in 2017, the figure will be raised to €9,10.

 

Price Hike for Milk and Butter

The price for milk and butter at ALDI and Netto will be increased this month. The price of butter will be 10cents higher while the price of milk will be 4cents higher.

 

No use of Plastic bags

An EU regulation encourages reducing the use of plastic bags. KiK becomes the very first retailer to take the regulation to heart and change their whole market. KiK will no longer offer plastic bags, and will instead offer cotton reusable bags to its clients.

 

Steuerfreibetrag

The Bundesfinanzamt has made some welcome changes to the tax declarations. Employees will now be allowed to use their non-taxable allowances for two years. Formerly, employees were only allowed to use their non-taxable allowance within one year.

 

Logo for Approved Online Pharmacies

The EU has introduced a logo that will be used on approved online pharmacies in a bid to ensure consumers only buy medicine from genuine pharmacies. The logo will be placed on the site and will lead directly to the Medicine and Drugs board in the country where the pharmacy is located.

 

Legal Expense Insurance More Expensive

With the increase in costs of hiring lawyers and going to court, most insurance companies offering Rechtschutzversicherung have increased their fees. According to “Finanztest”, these 18 companies have changed their fees: Allianz, Allrecht, Deurag, Badische, Bruderhilfe, Concordia, DA Deutsche Allgemeine, D.A.S., Ergo, HDI, Roland, Huk24, HUK-Coburg, Jurpartner, NRV, Örag, Rechtsschutz Union, Alte Leipziger und Roland.

 

Toll for Small Trucks

Trucks larger than 7,5 tonnes will begin to pay a toll when crossing into Germany from the neighbouring countries. This is expected to collect close to 300million euros annually, it will affect 250,000 trucks.