Obligations of commercial providers on Suchen.Expert
Anyone using Suchen.Expert in the course of a commercial or independent professional activity must truthfully state their entrepreneur status and comply with the legal requirements applicable to their activity and offers.
The specific obligations depend in particular on the type of offer, the sector and whether the offer is directed at consumers or exclusively at entrepreneurs.
1. Information about the provider
Commercial providers must supply and keep up to date the legally required identity, business and contact information.
Depending on the legal form and activity, this may include in particular:
name or full business name,
business address,
contact options,
authorised representatives,
register and registration number,
tax identification details where applicable, and
other mandatory information specific to the profession or sector.
The details required in each case are determined by the applicable legal provisions.
2. Information about the offer and price
Offers must describe the essential characteristics of the goods or services offered accurately, clearly and with sufficient completeness.
Anyone offering goods or services to consumers with an indication of prices must generally state the total price. Under the Price Indication Ordinance, this includes VAT and other price components. For distance contracts, it must also be stated whether additional freight, delivery, shipping or other costs apply; their amount must be stated insofar as it can be calculated in advance. §§ 3 and 6 PAngV contain the essential requirements in this respect.
Certain goods may also require a unit price.
3. Offers to consumers
Additional information obligations apply to distance contracts with consumers. § 312d BGB refers in particular to the information obligations under Article 246a EGBGB.
Depending on the contract, information must be provided in particular about the entrepreneur, the essential characteristics of the goods or services, prices, payment and delivery terms, and any applicable right of withdrawal.
Statutory rights concerning defects must also be observed. In a consumer sale, essential statutory provisions cannot readily be derogated from to the consumer's detriment before a defect is reported. A blanket exclusion of statutory rights concerning defects against consumers is therefore generally impermissible. For used goods, § 476 BGB permits the limitation period to be reduced to no less than one year only under certain conditions.
4. Product safety
Special requirements have applied since 13 December 2024 to products within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety (GPSR). The Regulation has applied directly since that date.
For online and other distance sales offers, Article 19 GPSR requires the following in particular to be stated clearly and visibly:
the manufacturer's name, trade name or trademark,
the manufacturer's postal address and email address,
if the manufacturer is not established in the European Union: the name, postal address and email address of the responsible person in the EU,
information clearly identifying the product, including an image and the necessary product identifiers,
mandatory warnings and safety information.
Further product safety obligations may apply depending on the role as manufacturer, importer, distributor or other economic operator.
Products that do not comply with the applicable safety or other legal requirements must not be made available on the market contrary to statutory requirements.
5. Third-party rights
Offers must not infringe the copyright, trademark, personality or other rights of third parties.
Third-party photographs, graphics, texts or other copyright-protected content may generally be used only where sufficient usage rights exist or the use is exceptionally permitted by law. § 31 UrhG governs the granting of usage rights.
Third-party trademarks and other distinctive signs may also be used only within the limits permitted by trademark law. In particular, the presentation of an offer must not create a false impression about the manufacturer, origin, authenticity or business relationships.
Counterfeit products and other infringing offers must not be published.
6. Data protection
Anyone processing personal data in the course of their business activity must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation.
Personal data may be processed only on a legal basis. The principles of purpose limitation and data minimisation also apply, among others: only data necessary for the relevant lawful purpose should be collected and processed. Articles 5 and 6 GDPR contain the central requirements in this respect.
In particular, personal data relating to other people should not be published in publicly accessible offers without a legal basis.
7. Further sector-specific obligations
Depending on the activity concerned, additional legal requirements may exist, for example:
trade or professional authorisations,
registration or reporting obligations,
special product labelling,
provisions protecting minors,
tax obligations,
environmental and waste disposal rules,
documentation and retention obligations, or
special rules for individual goods and services.
Commercial providers must themselves check which requirements apply to their specific offer before publishing it.
Responsibility of the provider
The provider concerned is responsible for the lawfulness, accuracy, completeness and currency of their offers and business information.
Suchen.Expert provides the technical platform for publication and communication. Publishing an offer on Suchen.Expert does not replace a legal, tax or specialist assessment of the specific offer.
If there is uncertainty about the legal requirements applicable to an offer, an appropriate legal or tax assessment should be obtained.
