Warning association

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A warning association is an association whose purpose and statutory task is to warn against anti-competitive practices, among other things . Often these are violations of the law against unfair competition , in recent times violations of the Telemedia Act have also been increasingly warned.

The warning association often represents the interests of a certain industry or professional group and specifically searches for violations of competition law standards by representatives of this professional group. He is often informed of this by third parties. The Central Office for Combating Unfair Competition e. V. maintains its own website for this purpose, for example. The association then warns of these competition violations and calls on the warned person to submit a declaration of cease and desist with criminal penalties . In addition, the warning association also bills the person who has been warned for the action. The warning associations may not claim more costs than they can prove in terms of average expenditure. This amount is currently around 180 euros.

The latter is possible because it is assumed that everyone wants to behave in accordance with the law; the unsolicited reference to a rule violation was therefore previously understood as a management without a mandate , for which the non- commissioned can also demand reimbursement of expenses . Today, the claim for reimbursement of expenses is standardized in Section 12 (1) sentence 2 UWG as a separate basis for claims .

If the complaint comes from a third party, the warning association is obliged according to data protection ( § 34 BDSG ) to give the warned person the name and address of the third party.

If a cease and desist declaration is not made, the warning association can also have the violation of competition law punished by a court, for example by means of an injunction .

Warning associations have fallen into disrepute. The warning of alleged "minor offenses" is often viewed as "fee manipulation". Some of these clubs have been able to build up impressive club assets. This "self-rolling effect" means that the clubs now have sufficient capital to be able to take them to court even in the event of dubious violations.

Economic interests

The warning aims in the intention of the legislature to put an end to an improper procedure , for example according to the Telemedia Act .

The interest of the warning association does not have to be non -profit , but can simply lie in the achievement of an economic return from the warning process. There are different opinions about the possible immorality of such an approach.

Usually the members of the warning associations are natural persons who have a direct economic advantage from the warning, for example lawyers who first charge fees and then represent a subsequent lawsuit.

Individual evidence

1. ^ AG Düsseldorf, judgment of August 22, 2003, Az. 33 C 5542/03