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Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD), friend of the basic pension
Photo: Bildgehege / imago images
Numerous new regulations will come into force in the middle of the year.
They concern the minimum wage, the basic pension - but also measures for environmental protection.
An overview.
Pension increase only in the east
As of July 1, pensions in East Germany will rise by 0.72 percent.
The pensioners in West Germany, however, do not receive any increase in their salaries.
The reason is the corona pandemic, which is having a negative impact on wage developments.
This is the basis for the annual pension adjustment.
According to the gross wages and salaries reported by the Federal Statistical Office of the previous year, the pension values should actually fall.
The so-called pension guarantee in the West German federal states ensures that the pensions are still not reduced.
The increase in the east pension value corresponds to the east-west alignment provided for by law.
The current pension value, which is decisive for the new federal states, thus rises to 33.47 euros.
For the western German federal states, the pension value will then still be 34.19 euros.
Ban on single-use plastic
Many products made from single-use plastic will be banned in Germany from July 3rd.
This affects items for which there are alternatives, such as drinking straws, stirring sticks, balloon sticks or disposable dishes.
Certain drinking cups and disposable styrofoam containers are also no longer allowed to be produced or put on the market.
Existing goods can still be sold.
Start of the basic pension
After months of delays, the basic pension will begin to be paid out. It is intended to benefit those pensioners who, despite long contribution years, only receive low retirement benefits. First of all, the new pensioners receive their notifications, this should happen in the course of July. In some time it should then start with the existing pensioners. Since the entitlement has officially been in effect since January 1, 2021, those entitled will also receive the money for the first six months retrospectively, depending on the entitlement.
After 33 years of basic pension periods, low-wage earners should receive a supplement to their pension, which reaches the full amount from the age of 35.
Basic pension periods arise from the payment of compulsory contributions from professional activity as well as from contribution periods for bringing up children and caring for relatives.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) expects 1.3 million recipients - 70 percent of them women.
The amount depends on the basic pension periods and the amount of insurable earnings.
On average, the hammer price is 75 euros, the maximum is currently around 418 euros.
More minimum wage
On July 1st, the statutory minimum wage rose by ten cents to EUR 9.60 per hour.
The adjustment is part of a gradual increase: on January 1, 2022, the minimum wage will increase again to 9.82 euros and six months later to 10.45 euros.
Employers and trade union representatives negotiated these steps after a long dispute in the minimum wage commission, which according to the law has to set the future level of the lower wage limit every two years.
On the recommendation of the commission, the federal government decided to increase.
Left and German trade union federation (DGB) criticize the minimum wage as still clearly too low.
New State Treaty for Gambling
Online poker and roulette on the Internet are permitted from the beginning of July according to uniform nationwide rules.
Then the new State Treaty on Gambling will come into force: It is intended to enable a uniform level of protection for players and minors throughout Germany.
In the future, for example, a gaming account will be mandatory for online gaming.
For this, players have to identify and authenticate themselves.
So minors should be excluded.
In addition, players are generally only allowed to deposit up to 1000 euros per month into the gaming account and use this amount.
At the same time, online poker variants and virtual slot machine games from private providers are being legalized to a very limited extent, as the Berlin Senate Chancellery puts it.
The aim is to curb the black market.
Goodbye 3G!
Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone switched off their third generation radio networks (3G or UMTS) on June 30th.
This affects customers who use a very old smartphone or who have a contract that does not include the newer 4G / LTE standard.
However, these are few consumers: At Vodafone 3G accounted for 2.5 percent of mobile data traffic at the turn of the year.
O2 wants to switch off the 3G network by the end of the year.
Telephone calls or classic SMS messages are still possible because the second-generation cellular standard (2G / Edge), which is geared towards telephony, remains in place.
New regulations for home builders
Anyone who builds or renovates a house and wants federal funding for it must comply with new rules from July 1st.
Then the new "Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings" (BEG) takes effect, replacing several programs of the Bank KfW and the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control.
This should make the funding more attractive.
In addition, only one application has to be submitted.
Fewer negative surprises when shopping online
Anyone who orders smaller goods in non-EU countries such as the USA, China or Switzerland must expect higher costs from July 1st.
Then the import sales tax will also be paid for items for which an exemption limit of 22 euros previously applied.
As with VAT, a rate of 19 percent applies to many products in Germany.
Seven percent are due for books.
For the actual duty, which is also levied, there is still an exemption limit of 150 euros.
beb / dpa
