Discount Act
| Basic data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Law on discounts |
| Short title: | Discount Act |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Federal Republic of Germany |
| Legal matter: | Competition law |
| References : | 43-5-1 |
| Issued on: | November 25, 1933 ( RGBl. I p. 1011) |
| Entry into force on: | January 1, 1934 |
| Last change by: | Law of July 25, 1986 ( Federal Law Gazette I, pp. 1169, 1172 ) |
| Expiry: | July 25, 2001 Law of July 23, 2001 ( Federal Law Gazette I p. 1663 ) |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version. | |
The Discount Act was a German law in the field of competition law . It was in effect from January 1, 1934 to July 25, 2001.
Regulatory content
It regulated the circumstances under which retailers could give discounts to consumers . In particular, according to § 2, the discount for cash payments could not exceed 3% of the price of the goods. However, when purchasing a larger quantity or several pieces of goods, a customary volume discount could be granted, § 7.
This did not apply to commercial customers, bulk consumers and employees of the company's own company, who could be granted special prices in accordance with Section 9.
Legal political significance
The law was enacted after official justification for the protection of the consumer in order to protect him from dubious fantasy and moon prices. Voices in legal literature also saw the discount law as a non- democratically legitimized element of the " middle class policy of the NSDAP " and part of a dirigistic economic policy that subordinated freedom of competition to official control.
It was also introduced by the National Socialists to reduce the attractiveness of the consumer cooperatives , which granted their members reimbursements of up to 10%.
In the last years of the period of validity, the legal literature increasingly called for the abolition of the discount law. The “protection of people from themselves” is basically alien to the German legal system and not readily compatible with the fundamental rights of the Basic Law .
Repeal
The repeal of the discount law, together with the repeal of the bonus regulation , was planned as early as 1993/94. This attempt failed, however, due to criticism from lobby groups for medium-sized trade and trade unions . It was not until the middle of 2000 that the federal government became aware of it again when industry associations declared at a hearing that this was incompatible with trading conditions on the Internet.
The law on the repeal of the discount law and the amendment of other legal provisions of July 23, 2001, the discount law was finally repealed on July 25, 2001.
Despite the repeal of the discount law, retailers are not completely free in their discount design, as the general provisions of the law against unfair competition (UWG) continue to apply.
See also
Web links
- Discount law at Gesetzweb.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Law on discounts and bonus regulations abolished. heise.de , December 13, 2000.
- ↑ Justus Meyer : Discount and bonus regulation on the test bench. In: Commercial legal protection and copyright . 2001, pp. 98, 104.
- ^ Nazi regime. Hamburg Cooperative Museum , accessed on September 9, 2018.
- ↑ a b Ulf Heil, Robert Dübbers: Abolition of the discount law and bonus regulation - a first step to limit domestic discrimination due to the e-commerce directive in competition law. In: Journal for Legal Policy . 2001, p. 207.
