www.psi-network.de PSI Journal 3/2012 of these standards, and also enforce sanctions aimed at preventing the sale of the product. The old regulations left it largely up to the parties to transfer the required contact data to the product’s package. This is now only permitted if the contact data cannot be applied to the product itself. Putting the contact data of the manufacturer or importer on promotional products is usually quite difficult. The space available for such data will as a rule be used for the trade mark of the end customer who wants to use the product for advertising. Is there no exception from the identification obligation for promotional products? The law provides for only a few exceptions, in which lawmakers consider it justifiable to omit product identification. The data can, for instance, be omitted if they are already known to the user, which is not likely to be very often the case with promotional products or, in certain instances, where this would entail too much difficulty. But be careful! These exceptions are not helpful for very many promotional products. If you are technically capable of applying the data desired by the end customer, such as a logo, to a product, you will hardly be able to claim with any credibility that meeting the provisions of this law would entail undue difficulty. The fact that the space available on a promotional product is needed for the end customer’s logo does not therefore, taken on its own, constitute an exception in this sense. It is conceivable, however, to supply the required contact data using a sticker or a label on a product. The user can remove this label, of course, but then that is the user‘s own decision. At any rate, the law does not require that the contact data be indelibly applied to the product. The problem for the promotional products industry is not only that the space available on the product is needed for the end customer‘s data. There is also the fact that promotional products distributors as a rule do not want to reveal where they have procured the product. If the name and address of the importer are indicated, the end customer could take all subsequent business directly to the importer. Shouldn‘t all importers expect to be fined immediately, considering these interests? Of course, the promotional products industry can also make use of the exceptions provided by the law. So if one of the exceptions applies, identification can be omitted from a promotional product, as well. The problem is actually that the companies involved will have to examine every single product to see if it constitutes a legal exception. Legislators want to keep anonymous consumer products off the market as far as possible, so that the authorities as well as users can see at once who is responsible for a product in case of a complaint. If you want to claim an exception to the identification obligation, you will have to give the authorities reasons why the conditions of an exception are fulfilled in this case. If you cannot provide an acceptable reason, you will have to expect to be fined. You mentioned that the identification can in some cases also be applied to the product package if this is not possible on the product itself. Does this exception also apply to bulk packaging? First of all, this exception only applies if it is not possible to apply the identification as such to the product. The mere fact that 35

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