Germany

Franchise regulation

No

Pre-contractual disclosure requirements

There are no franchise-specific disclosure requirements, though the German Civil and Commercial Codes impose a general disclosure requirement in all contractual negotiations on both parties to disclose all material facts.

Registration

No

Other issues

The Civil and Commercial Codes also impose a significant expectation of good faith, so care should be taken when making claims regarding profit to franchisees.

Difficulty Rating/Comments

Even though there is no franchise-specific requirement to provide a pre-contractual disclosure document to a prospective franchisee, franchisors often find that this is the easiest way to comply with the general disclosure requirement under German law.

Contact Jie Zhang - [email protected] or Jiri Jaeger - [email protected]