Germany Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in germany, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Standards for Trade
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Please refer to our European Union Country Commercial Guide article on EU legislation and CE Marking.

Contact Information  

Please see the contact info for the Standards Attaché to the EU.

Testing, Inspection and Certification

Germany follows the EU’s approach to product testing and certification, centered on conformity assessment procedures. Most products sold in the EU require the CE marking, which indicates that a product has been assessed and meets EU safety, health, and environmental protection requirements. The CE marking is mandatory for specific product groups and must be affixed by the manufacturer after conducting the appropriate conformity assessment procedure.

The conformity assessment process varies depending on the product type and applicable directives. It can range from self-certification by manufacturers for lower-risk products to requiring involvement of a notified body for higher-risk products. In Germany, the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) is the only authority responsible nationwide for accrediting conformity assessment bodies according to EU regulations. Other testing and certification organizations like TÜV play a significant role in Germany’s conformity assessment infrastructure

Publication of Technical Regulations

In Germany, new or revised technical regulations are primarily published in the Federal Law Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt). Since January 1, 2023, the electronic version of the Federal Law Gazette has been the sole legally binding format for publicizing federal laws and statutory instruments. The Federal Law Gazette is divided into two parts:

  • Part I contains federal laws, ordinances, and administrative regulations.
  • Part II publishes international treaties and agreements.

Proposed technical regulations that fall under the scope of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement are notified through Germany’s National TBT Enquiry Point, operated jointly by DIN (German Institute for Standardization) and DAkkS (German Accreditation Body). These drafts are also published on the EU’s TBT notification portal.

Use ePing to review proposed technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures.  

The ePing SPS&TBT platform (https://epingalert.org/), or “ePing”, provides access to notifications made by Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) under the Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), distributed by the WTO from January 16, 1995 to present.  ePing is available to all stakeholders free of charge and is a versatile tool that can be used to:    

  • Follow and review current and past notifications concerning regulatory actions on products, packaging, labeling, food safety and animal and plant health measures in markets of interest,  
  • Receive customized e-mail alerts when new notifications are distributed,  
  • Find information on trade concerns discussed in the WTO SPS and TBT Committees.  

Per obligation under the TBT Agreement, each WTO Member operates an Enquiry Point. National TBT Enquiry Points are authorized to accept comments and official communications from other national TBT Enquiry Points, which are NOT part of the WTO or the WTO Secretariat.  All comment submissions from U.S. stakeholders, including businesses, trade associations, U.S domiciled standards development organizations and conformity assessment bodies, consumers, or U.S. government agencies on notifications to the WTO TBT Committee should be sent directly to the USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point.  Refer to the comment guidance at https://www.nist.gov/notifyus/commenting for further information. This guidance is provided to assist U.S. stakeholders in the preparation and submission of comments in response to notifications of proposed foreign technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures. `

Please refer to the ITA’s CE Marking guide for specific details on EU requirements.