Consumer Information Act

The Consumer Information Act (VIG), which entered into force on 01.05.2008 and was amended with effect from 01.09.2012, offers consumers a legal right to access the information available to the authorities on products under the Food and Feed Code and on consumer products  under the Product Safety Act. This means that, upon request to the competent authority, you can obtain existing information on food, feed, consumer goods, cosmetics or wine and on consumer products such as kitchen appliances, consumer electronics, furniture, toys or DIY supplies.

Your right to receive information includes data about:

1. deviations from the requirements of food, feed and product safety law;
2. hazards/risks posed by products or consumer products to consumers;
3. the composition of products, their nature, physical, chemical and biological properties, including their interaction and action on the body, also taking into account their intended use or foreseeable misuse,
4. labelling, provenance, quality, use, manufacture and treatment of products or consumer products;
5. permitted derogations from the provisions of food, feed and product safety law concerning the characteristics or activities referred to in points 3 and 4;
6. starting materials and the processes used for the extraction of starting materials;
7. monitoring measures or other official or consumer protection measures, as well as statistics on definitively listed infringements.

Helpful information for consumers is provided by the consumer window Hessen.

In Hesse, the following authorities are obliged to provide information for their respective areas of responsibility:

• Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
• Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration
• Regional Council Kassel
• Regierungspräsidium Darmstadt
• Regional Council Giessen
• Districts and district-free cities

Further information can be found on the homepage of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection under the keyword "Consumer Policy in Hesse".

Information on consumer products can be found on the website of the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration under the heading  Product Safety.

Access to information on deviations from legal requirements within the meaning of section 2 (1) sentence 1 no. 1 VIG is free of charge. For other information , fees up to a maximum of 600.00 euros will be charged from an administrative expense of 250.00 euros .

If the application is not processed free of charge, the applicant must be informed in advance of the expected amount of the costs and of the possibility of withdrawing or restricting his application.

• Current warnings and information can be found on the portal of the federal states and the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) "www.lebensmittelwarnung.de".
• A list (weekly) of dangerous consumer products found in Germany can be found on the website of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
• You can also search for products that have been objected to by authorities. These can be found on the homepage of the ICSMS (internet-supported information and communication system for the pan-European market surveillance of technical products) at Consumer > product search .
• Information on exceedances of limit values, maximum levels or maximum quantities and information on certain infringements of the provisions of the Food, Consumer Goods and Feed Code, which serve to protect against health hazards or against deception or compliance with hygienic requirements, can be found in the Consumer Window Hessen under Consumer Information Hessen according to § 40 Abs. 1a Food and Feed Code.