5 useful laws in Germany that make life easier for any German
Portal Pikabu one of the wearer has published an interesting story about the German laws: "On some German laws (and not very useful) I wrote in different their positions. Today we will have a post dedicated to the laws that make life of the average German a little easier."
It was almost the first thing I learned about German restaurants: in front of the entrance to each of them hangs a menu with prices. Of course, there misses the entire menu. For example, the menu for the week usually hanging individually, or written on a black chalkboard in front. But overall most of the dishes and drinks is visible right at the entrance. This is awesome conveniently, you can immediately appreciate, affordable this institution and whether there is generally something for your taste.
In General, the law regulates quite a lot of details of what should be the menu and the check. So, the menu needs to be at least one non-alcoholic drink that costs less than the cheapest alcoholic. And the check should always be the final amount of the order. Seems logical, but no. Abroad I few times faced with the fact that the check did not indicate any additional fees like service charge. By the way, in Germany tipping is voluntary.
When I was young and naive, I accidentally signed up on the website with free software. Then my Inbox was inundated with demands from their type of lawyer to pay the bill. I was very surprised, because during the registration I saw that she paid. However, it would be quite difficult — the text about the payment was written in light grey small print on a white background. And just a year later in Germany passed a law according to which all paid services should be visible and the user has to agree with them and poke "I agree". In addition, as the check at the restaurant, buyer service or product should immediately see the final cost of the product including taxes and shipping.
And recently published a law according to which a website should alert you that it uses cookies (cookie). And not somewhere in the back of the site, a pop-up window. Before that, you could just limit ourselves to mention the cookies in the Impressum, which is an integral part of any website. There are specially trained people and lovers who wool sites for the presence of the imprint and in his absence or incomplete information alert threatening all sorts of punitive authority. The penalty for such a seemingly small change can reach 50 million euros (nearly 3.5 million) for the most recalcitrant violators.
Almost any item purchased online can be returned without reason within 14 days from the date of purchase provided that it has not been used. The exceptions are uncovered CD and DVD, goods, made to order, and tickets to cinema or theatre. And if the seller has not specified in the user agreement that the buyer pays for the shipment out of pocket, even the shipment will be free.
When purchasing in a regular store, there is no obligation to change goods due to the fact that he did not like, however, many sellers are going to meet the buyer and without any problems change everything. It's called Aus Kulanz "out of courtesy".
Rent an apartment without lease — almost an unthinkable thing. The legislation regulates quite well this side of life, protecting rights and imputing responsibilities. The standard contract has many of the less standard items: how much interest per year can increase the fee, who pays for what repairs, who keeps order at the entrance and in the surrounding areas and so on. Some cunning landlords under the guise of trying to cram not quite legitimate demands. For example, to forbid any Pets. On the one hand, prohibit to keep a cat or dog can't. On the other hand you should inform neighbors and the landlord about a four-legged tenant and hope that no one will mind.
With small animals like tortoise or hamster it's simple — in principle they can't let anyone interfere, so that to inform them it is not necessary. But the presence of a weasel or rat could bring to the court. The precedents, when the court forbade the maintenance of a ferret in a rented apartment, like a particularly smelly, and rat as a calling disgust. And singing parrots can be a reason to contact you in court for the systematic violation of silence.
In General, the residents of perhaps the most important rule in German homes. So if your neighbors are constantly noisy, and even too frequent visits from the police they are not confused, then you can benefit from. For example, to demand a reduction of rent. Depending on circumstances you can get a discount of up to 20 percent. However, these 20 percent are unlikely to particularly help if your apartment opened a noisy hotel.
Unlike Russia, in Germany more relaxed attitude of the law to alcohol. You can buy it at any time of the day and easy to drink. However, the owners of various establishments have the right to prohibit the consumption of alcohol on its territory. For example, many trains this pay a penalty. Teenagers from the age of 16 are free to buy alcoholic drinks obtained by fermentation, like beer and wine. Many people mistakenly believe that from the age of 16 allowed the use of all alcoholic drinks but it is not. For example, low alcohol cocktails which contain alcohol based on the distillate, it is illegal kids.
Also drinking alcohol is not an absolute ban for all drivers. Those who got my license less than two years ago and who have not attained the age of 21, can not drink. For those who have in the blood will detect even less than 0.5 ppm, there is a penalty of at least 250 Euro (17,5 thousand roubles), plus one point for the system of fines for drivers and an increase in the probationary period. The rest of you can go with 0.5 ppm. However, in the event of an accident already with 0.3 ppm of alcohol in the blood you can get points to lose my licence, get a fine or even lose your freedom.
By the way, bicycling the Germans, too, are quite serious. For the accident on the bike can suffer driving license. And a drunk cyclist can also be brought to justice. However, only 1.6 ppm without accidents. And in the event of an accident will be enough of the same 0.3 ppm for a full range of penalties as for the average motorist.
Keywords: Germany | Life | Laws | The Germans