Working group of consumer associations
The working group of consumer associations e. V. (AgV) was founded on April 30, 1953 as the "Association of Associations" in the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim was to bundle the consumer policy work of numerous associations and increase the importance of consumer policy itself. The reason was the consideration that the low need of consumers for direct membership limits the influence of consumer associations, for example in comparison to professional interest representation by trade unions. On November 1, 2000, the AgV was merged into the newly founded consumer association federal association .
prehistory
As early as the middle of the 19th century, the first tenants' associations and consumer cooperatives emerged in Great Britain, Germany and the United States . B. the well-known peasant cooperative aid from Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen . As a result, a new branch of the legal system grows through jurisprudence and legislation. In 1906, the Food and Drug Act was passed as the first important consumer protection law in the USA . In Germany, the new law against unfair competition (UWG) came into force in 1909 , and the Tenant Protection Act was passed in 1923 . During National Socialism, independent associations and organizations were brought into line or dissolved. At the same time, the discount law was passed in 1933 .
founding
The newly founded AgV elected the chairman of the Central Association of German Consumer Cooperatives, Gustav Dahrendorf, as its first chairman. A little later, the German Tenants' Association, one of the largest individual associations of the AgV, joined. In 1955 the first state working groups were founded. In 1956, the AgV represented 19 member associations, including the German Women's Association and the German Housewives Association in addition to the tenants' association already mentioned .
construction
In 1961, the AgV carried out the first comparative product test based on the US model for detergents . This found the support of the Federal Minister of Economics at the time, Ludwig Erhard , but was fought intensely legally by the economy. As a result, the federal government decided in 1964 to set up a product test institute in the form of a foundation under private law, the Stiftung Warentest . This brought out the magazine “Der Test” for the first time in 1966, known today as test .
The year before the AgV won a further work crucial formative success: In an amendment to the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) consumer organizations was the legal standing granted to enforce the injunction of unfair competition in court. This task was transferred in 1966 to the consumer protection association (VSV) founded by the AgV and the consumer centers and based in Berlin.
In the meantime consumer advice centers had been founded in all federal states including West Berlin , all of which joined the AgV as members by 1971. At the same time, the consumer associations of the EC countries joined forces in the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) to lobby for consumer protection in Brussels . The AgV was a founding member.
Establishment
After the election of Willy Brandt as Federal Chancellor of the new social-liberal coalition in 1969, a federal government presented its first report on consumer policy in 1971 . In 1972 a consumer advisory council was established at the Federal Ministry of Economics . The spokesman was the long-time President of the AgV Otto Blume . In the following years, there were important legislative decisions in German pharmaceutical and food law, antitrust law and consumer law. At the same time, in 1975 the EC Commission adopted a European charter with five fundamental consumer rights , based on the "fundamental consumer rights" already proclaimed by US President John F. Kennedy .
In 1978 the Stiftung Warentest and the AgV jointly founded the Berlin-based Consumer Institute Foundation for the professional development of concepts and material as well as the implementation of advanced training courses. After Helmut Kohl was elected as the new Chancellor in 1982, the alternative consumer initiative and the new Ökotest magazine were founded in 1985 outside of the now established consumer associations . In 1991, Stiftung Warentest brought out its second important publication, the “FINANZtest” magazine specializing in financial products, now known as Finanztest .
Reforming
The upheavals of the turnaround in the GDR and the inexperience of many East Germans were systematically exploited by traders and fraudsters. In response to this, consumer centers in all regions of the GDR were founded in 1990 in a major effort and with the support of consumer associations in the old federal states. The five consumer centers in the new federal states joined the AgV in December 1990.
Triggered by the Federal Government's intention to leave the financing of consumer advice centers to the federal states alone, a structural debate led to rethinking the division of labor since 1992. The aim of the federal government was to bundle resources and increase effectiveness by creating a new umbrella association for the consumer centers of the federal states instead of all three old institutions, the consumer protection association , the consumer institute foundation and the consortium of consumer associations. V. (AgV). The reform process finally came to an end with the establishment of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) on November 1, 2000.
