Gold clause
A gold clause is a form of a capital preservation clause . It is based on a certain amount of gold or the value of this amount ( gold value clause ).
The gold clause was very common in private contracts in the German Reich in the years after the introduction of the Rentenmark or Reichsmark after 1924 from the experience of the great inflation of 1923 .
In the Federal Republic of Germany, gold clauses for the D-Mark as a safeguard clause have been forbidden in principle since 1949, see Section 3 of the Currency Act, which required the approval of the Bundesbank. The same applies to the euro currency area since January 1, 1999 .
The gold clause was repealed by the law of December 16, 1999 (Federal Law Gazette IS 2402) with effect from January 1, 2002.
Since 2007, gold clauses are generally ineffective due to the "Law on the Prohibition of the Use of Price Clauses in Determining Financial Debt".