Ignition monopoly
The ignition goods monopoly was a state monopoly on the production, sale and pricing of ignition goods ( matches ). The monopoly on ignition goods came into being in 1930 at the instigation of the Swedish industrialist Ivar Kreuger , who in exchange granted Germany and 16 other countries large loans on favorable terms. This monopoly was abolished in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983 after there had been special routes in the Saarland . The GDR did not recognize the German Reich's monopoly on ignition goods and went its own way from 1950 onwards.
Development in Germany
Until the end of the Second World War
The ignition goods monopoly in Germany goes back to the economic difficulties that the Weimar Republic was exposed to at the beginning of the global economic crisis . At that time, the German Reich was additionally weakened by the reparation payments due to the First World War . Since borrowing was limited, bonds or similar measures were legitimate financing instruments.
The Swedish industrialist Ivar Kreuger offered the Reich government a loan, provided that his group received monopoly rights in Germany. At that time, Kreuger had achieved a market share of around 65 percent for its matches through dumping methods . However, due to the competition from cheap Soviet matches without a monopoly, a further increase seemed hardly possible.
The Reich government finally agreed with Kreuger on a loan of 500 million Reichsmarks ; the term was 53 years, ie until 1983. The interest rate was 6 percent. On January 28, 1930, the Reichstag passed the Ignition Monopoly Act with 240 votes to 143, with seven abstentions and one invalid vote , which was drawn up the next day and announced in the Reichsgesetzblatt on January 30th . Because of this law, matches in the German Reich were only allowed to be sold by the Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft founded for this purpose, which in turn awarded production and purchase quotas to the actual manufacturers at fixed prices. The sale to the public was fixed at a price.
With the provisional implementation regulations for the ignition goods monopoly law of May 30, 1930 (RGBl. I p. 176), some legal standards were further specified. In particular, a binding quality standard has now been introduced with Article 32 for the term household goods used in the law itself in its Sections 20 and 31 (see digitized version on Commons ). Section 32 no. 1 sentence 9 also stipulated that the term household goods must be used on the label, sentence 10 stipulated that advertising is prohibited.
In addition, the same implementing provisions stipulate in Section 32 (2) that the delivery conditions of all other ignition goods are determined by the delivery conditions of the monopoly company. The term `` Weltholz '' , which is used exclusively, is mentioned as an example in Section 33 of the Ignition Monopoly Act of January 30, 1930, but its enforcement was carried out by the monopoly society itself, whose decisions were published in the Reichsanzeiger , see Section 21 of the statutes of the Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft (RGBl. I p. 20, § 21 (among others) as digitized version on Commons ) .
After 1945
Federal Republic and its predecessors until 1983
Due to the Ignition Goods Monopoly Act of 1930, ignition goods in the Federal Republic of Germany were only allowed to be manufactured and sold by the German ignition goods monopoly company founded for this purpose, even after the Second World War ; the ignition goods monopoly law continued to apply . Even after the Second World War, the brand names of the monopoly company were world wood and household goods . The German producers continued to be allocated production quotas; Exports or start-ups were not allowed. For manufacturers and factories of ignition goods in Germany, separate tax numbers were assigned as early as 1909.
In Saarland , during the French occupation from 1947–1956, with effect from January 3, 1948, a separate (tobacco and) ignition goods monopoly, the Saarland ignition goods management , was created. With the re-integration into the Federal Republic, although the Zündwarenmonopolgesetz also occurred in the Saarland into force, but economically this worked until July 6, 1959 the day the currency introduction of the D-Mark from.
The repayment of the Reich loan to which the German match monopoly was linked was adapted to the new circumstances after the Second World War. The Swedish matchmaker and the Bonn Ministry of Finance agreed to repay the last installment of $ 275,724.44 on January 15, 1983 .
To this end, on March 29, 1982 the federal government submitted a draft law to abolish the ignition goods monopoly with the aim of establishing a free match market by abolishing the ignition goods monopoly after the last installment of the Kreuger bond was repaid on January 15, 1983. The Federal Government cited " The German ignition goods monopoly must be adapted to the requirements of Article 37 of the EEC Treaty as soon as this is compatible with the relevant international agreement. Only up to this point in time is the Federal Republic of Germany released from its obligations under Article 37 of the EEC Treaty in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Treaty. " and "The revenue reductions resulting from this law for the federal budget amount to around 3 million DM annually. They would, however, also arise if match sales continued to decline so that the monopoly company only covered its ongoing business costs from the sale of domestic matches , so it could no longer generate any profits for the federal government ". On August 27, 1982, the German Bundestag passed the law to abolish the ignition goods monopoly, which was published in the Federal Law Gazette on September 2, 1982. The law came into force in two parts with effect from January 1, 1982 and January 16, 1983. The ignition goods monopoly was thus abolished with effect from January 16, 1983.
After the abolition of the ignition goods monopoly, prices for ignition goods fell by a third.
The state-regulated sale previously threw considerable profits of up to DM 17 million annually for the Federal Ministry of Finance , which declined continuously from the 1970s with the advent of disposable lighters until the early 1980s.
The Allemann company from Grafenwiesen also bought into the ignition goods monopoly and produced under tax numbers 305c (household goods) and 295b (world woods). The Grafenwiesen Match Museum in the Bavarian Forest was not only created from the legacy of the ignition goods manufacturer Allemann, who ceased the production of matches in 1986.
GDR and its predecessors until 1990
The GDR did not recognize the effects of the German Reich's ignition goods monopoly, and payments were not made. A formal repeal of the ignition goods monopoly law in the territory of the GDR is currently not provable, but it expired at the latest with the Unification Treaty .
France
A similar monopoly is also known from France . The regulations that existed in Saarland until 1956 were modeled on those in France.
gallery
Household goods 3 pfennigs
Household goods 5 pfennigs
Household goods 70 pfennigs
Unsaleable matchbox Deutsche Bundesbahn
World woods
Post-war world woods, German ignition goods monopoly company
World wood package with 10 boxes
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. compilation of the roll-call final vote on the draft law in the minutes of the Reichstag meeting of January 28, 1930 (the minutes of the 3rd reading of the law can be found from page 3883 ) in digitized form at the Munich Digitization Center of the Bavarian State Library .
- ↑ See date in RGBl. I p. 19
- ^ Reichsgesetzblatt, year 1930, part 1, no. 3, Zündwarenmonopolgesetz, pp. 11–22, January 30, 1930, here page 11.
- ↑ RGBl. I p. 11 to p. 22 (digital copies on ALEX - historical legal and legal texts online )
- ↑ RGBl. I p. 176 to p. 22 (digital copies on ALEX - historical legal and legal texts online )
- ↑ Ignition goods producers and their tax numbers since 1909 . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
- ↑ Legal text on private website , accessed on October 11, 2016.
- ^ A b Karl Presser: The Saarland tobacco and ignition goods monopoly . Online , accessed October 11, 2016.
- ^ German Bundestag, 9th electoral term, printed matter 9/1518 of March 29, 1982 . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
- ↑ Federal Law Gazette Part I 1982 No. 33 of September 2, 1982, Law on the Abolition of the Ignition Monopoly of August 27, 1982 . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
- ↑ Controlling from A to Z. In it comments on the ignition goods monopoly (p. 165). ( Memento of October 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) of the Federal Ministry of Finance . Retrieved October 10, 2016.
- ↑ Matches - Emotionally charged . In: DER SPIEGEL, issue 44/1982 of November 1, 1982. Online , accessed October 8, 2016.
- ↑ Match Museum Grafenwiesen in the Bavarian Forest . Retrieved May 11, 2020.
