What's new in 2023 - what's changing for consumers
Created: 12/15/2022 8:51 am
By: Dominik Jahn
In 2023, consumers will face some changes.
New regulations and measures for shopping, for heating costs or for insurance were decided.
The turn of the year is approaching us with big steps.
In the new year there are again numerous changes.
There will be new rules for drivers from 2023 - points and fines are threatened, as
echo24.de
reports.
When exchanging a driver's license, the next deadlines will also expire.
And consumers are also faced with changes in everyday life.
In its report at the turn of the year, the "Ver Verbraucherzentrale" (VZ) writes that it will not only be the energy crisis that will bring about innovations.
In 2023, a whole series of legislative changes will come into force again.
In 2023, consumers will have to adapt to many innovations
A particularly important area of the innovations in the new year are relief in the energy crisis.
Here, private households are to be supported by new laws.
There are also topics such as supply chain law, animal welfare labels and how to deal with packaging waste.
Organization: | Consumer Center |
|---|---|
Founding: | November 1, 2000 |
Legal form: | registered association |
Purpose: | consumer protection; umbrella organization |
Members: | 51 consumer organisations: 16 consumer advice centres; 26 other associations; 9 supporting members |
The changes for the year 2023 have been summarized by the experts at the “Consumer Center”.
We have summarized ten of the most important innovations for a quick overview.
Help in the energy crisis: In 2023 price brakes should relieve households financially
What people are most concerned about at the moment is the cost of heating.
Politicians are helping with price brakes for gas, electricity and district heating.
They will provide financial relief from 2023.
According to VZ, according to the current status, they
will “formally come into force from March 2023.
However, they should then take effect retrospectively from January 1, 2023"
.
The following should apply to 80 percent of the previous year's consumption in this period:
The price cap for electricity is 40 cents per kilowatt hour.
A capped gas price of 12 cents per kilowatt hour.
For district heating, 9.5 cents per kilowatt hour should apply as a price cap.
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Pensions are to be increased in the new year
In Germany, the pensions in East and West should also change with the new year.
Accordingly, from July 1, 2023, pensions in the west are to increase by 3.5 percent and in the east by 4.2 percent.
The drafts for this can be found in the Federal Government's 2022 pension insurance report.
The adjustment therefore applies to:
All old-age pensions
Survivor's pensions
disability pensions
Statutory Accident Pensions
For farmers' pensions from the Agricultural Pension Fund
As the VZ writes, the next step is to be taken from July 1, 2023 to align the pension value in the east with the pension value that applies in the west.
It says:
"From the current 98.6 percent, the East pension value will then rise to 99.3 percent of the West value"
.
More housing benefit from 2023: subsidy only on application
People can also look forward to more support with housing allowances.
In the energy crisis, it is to be significantly increased from January 1, 2023.
There should be an average of around 190 euros more per month.
The measures also include making it available to significantly more people than before.
The new housing benefit can benefit around two million people.
So far there have only been around 600,000.
Who gets housing benefit depends only on how high the income is.
Decisive factors are the rent and the place of residence.
In addition, you do not receive the subsidy automatically, but only upon application to the respective municipality.
Out for Hartz IV in the new year: Citizens' allowance should come in 2023
With the year 2023, the basic social security system Hartz IV will also disappear.
If the plans of the federal government go, there will then be citizen income.
New name, more benefits and higher allowances.
Important information for this*:
The allowances on income between 520 and 1,000 euros are to be increased to 30 percent in order to increase the incentive to take up work.
In the case of basic income, the standard rate for single adults should be 502 euros per month (instead of the previous 449 euros).
Life partners and children should then also receive more money.
An asset allowance of 40,000 euros for a single person and 15,000 euros for each additional person in the household should apply in the first year.
A further training allowance of 150 euros is to be introduced when taking up qualification-related further training.
*Information according to consumer advice center
Of the measures in Hartz IV, however, the sanction options for misconduct are to be retained from the first day of benefit receipt.
49-euro ticket follows 9-euro ticket
People in Germany can also look forward to the successor to the popular 9-euro ticket from the summer.
As
echo24.de
had already reported, the 49-euro ticket is coming.
The nationwide Deutschlandticket is to be introduced in spring 2023.
Use all buses and trains of local public transport - no matter where in the country.
Experts assume that at this price, commuters or travelers who travel longer distances will be particularly interested.
The ticket is to be offered as a monthly cancellable subscription.
From 2023: Reusable packaging must be used in gastronomy
In 2023, packaging waste is also to be further reduced.
There will be a reusable obligation in gastronomy for food to go.
The consumer center writes:
"Restaurants, but also delivery services and caterers will then be obliged to offer reusable containers as an alternative for food and drinks to take away and order"
.
There should be an exception for smaller companies.
Bakeries or snack bars with a maximum of five employees and a maximum sales area of 80 square meters are not subject to the returnable packaging obligation.
However, they must accept containers brought by customers and fill food and drinks for “to go” consumption on request.
Animal welfare label for pork is introduced
For customers of supermarkets and discounters such as Kaufland, Lidl or Aldi, the labeling of certain meat and sausage products is changing.
An animal welfare label for pork is introduced.
From then on, the labeling of husbandry conditions should become mandatory for the first products.
The corresponding law will come into force in summer 2023 and will initially regulate fresh, unprocessed pork produced in Germany.
The two sister companies from the Schwarz Group, Kaufland and Lidl, had already announced the introduction of the 5xD logo for their branches at the beginning of 2022.
Problem: Imported pork products are not included.
Five attitude categories are planned:
barn
stable + place
fresh air barn
run/outdoor
organic
The government is also planning later to make poultry and beef labeling compulsory.
An extension to meat used in gastronomy and processed products is also to come.
The measures are viewed critically, since initially only unprocessed meat is labeled in stores.
The significantly larger part of German pork sales is thus left out for the time being.
Significantly higher premiums for homeowners insurance
In 2023 you will have to dig much deeper into your pocket for homeowners insurance.
The contributions will probably increase noticeably.
The VZ says:
“On the one hand, the background is the flood disaster in the summer of 2021. Around 91,000 insured residential buildings were damaged or destroyed.
On the other hand, the record inflation is also burdening the insurers, since the costs for repair work, materials and construction are rising
.
According to the VZ article, those affected should keep an eye on their contribution to building insurance.
You can - after a comparison of conditions and contributions - also change the provider, the experts write about the upcoming changes.
The new supply chain law for 2023 remains a big topic
Supply chains in retail are and will remain a really big topic at the turn of the year.
From 2023, German companies will then be responsible for compliance with human rights and ecological standards along their supply chains.
On January 1, the "Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains" comes into force.
Background: In the manufacture of clothing, electronics or coffee, fundamental human rights are repeatedly violated and the environment polluted in many distant production countries.
Added to this are wage dumping, child labour, illegal deforestation and pollution of soil, air and water with toxins as negative side effects.
For years there have been repeated protests in Germany for improvements.
The Hamburg initiative also called for the supply chain law in 2020.
© dpa/ rtn, frank bründel
Regarding the new regulations, it says: “The supply chain law now obliges many companies to identify risks of human rights violations and environmental destruction at direct suppliers and, depending on the event, also at indirect suppliers, to take countermeasures and to document these to the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA).
They must also set up complaints procedures.
However, there is no civil liability for violations of the law.
New legal action option for consumers from 2023
Consumers and consumer associations have a new opportunity to sue in court after the model declaratory action was introduced in Germany in 2018.
According to the VZ report, after such a model case, those affected must continue to sue their specific claims in court themselves – as long as no settlement has been reached.
This will change with the new EU class action lawsuit from 2023: With this new class action lawsuit, consumer associations can also sue consumers directly for damages or, for example, claims for repayment without them having to go to court again themselves.
According to the article, examples of class action lawsuits could be illegal price increases by an energy provider or incorrectly charged savings interest at a bank.
The new regulation is scheduled to come into force on June 25, 2023.
