by Hans Pul
‘Made in Germany’ stands for quality products, for top-notch engineering. For world-class cars, machines, dish washers, etcetara. The reputation of German products as quality products is very valuable for the German economy as a whole. German companies eagerly use the ‘Made in Germany’ label to communicate the quality of their products to consumers around the world. The ‘Made in Germany’ label is such a strong brand, that some companies have adjusted their production processes in order to be able to use the label. They open an assembly plant in Germany and put together their product there, while (sub-)components are produced abroad. This leads to important questions: Does the term ‘Made in Germany’ make sense in times of globalized production processes? What does it mean that a product was produced in a country? When a product is assembled in country A, while the parts of the product were produced in country B, C and D, is the product ‘produced’ in country A? Is ‘Made in Germany’ misleading towards consumers?
These questions have become highly relevant, as the EU commissioner Algirdas Semeta plans to restrict the use of claims like ‘Made in Germany’.
