The EU Commission in Brussels is planning changes to the law in regard to the origin of goods. The origin of goods is currently in that country where the “last essential, economically justifiable processing” takes place. This principle shall be changed to that effect that instead the value of the vendor parts delivered from abroad shall determine the standard of the goods.

Countries are up in arms, associations and politicians see the competitiveness of single industries in jeopardy. Especially Germany is fighting back, because they see the “Made in Germany” seal of approval in danger.

It is not always a reason to jubilate when the EU comes up with measures to harmonize the markets or improve the competitiveness of European businesses in a globalized world.

A change in the law in regard to the origin of goods is, and this is how we see it, for the consumer goods industry altogether desirable, for many reasons. The competition “Made in…” is increasing and quite definitely on the level of product quality. Ten or 20 years ago, “Made in China” was more of a flaw, today we see that products “Made in China” can absolutely compete with top level products from Western countries. Yes, we do see that many high-end products of European or American brands carry the “Made in China” tag. Relinquishing an up to date law in regard to the origin of goods would bring more disadvantages than advantages. How do they say – “competition is good for business”. In other words, “Made in …” could develop to the benefit of all market participants.

One should produce where the sales markets are located. This is not new, it only became temporarily unfashionable. Siemens, Bosch and Philips already had built production sites on location around the world over 100 years ago, for instance in India, America or Russia. Europeans have closed the domestic production sites rather quickly due to reasons of short-term cost advantages and moved production to low wage countries outside of Europe. The cost explosion in Asia, transport costs, the slowness and complexity of the order and production processing, the costs of quality control and many other problems have triggered a process of reconsideration with the consequence that production in Europe is increasing once again. “Made in Europe” is starting to roll again.

Especially important for us seems to be a new definition of the term “Made in…” In days of yore one understood the production process, meaning production or assembly in its own right. Today we have to give “Made in…” an expanded meaning.

“Made in …” does not begin an end at the assembly line. It comprises and contains much more the idea for a product, the complete development process, design, prototypes for pilot production, tests all the way to readiness for series production and the subsequently following production processes, quality control and after-sales services. Not the production site in the strict sense shall be standard for “Made in …”, but rather the home of all values, which subsequently represent a product. A BMW is a “Made in Germany” product, even if the steel comes from India, the electronics from China, the leather for the interior décor from Spain and the tires from France, because the origin of the product stems from the product idea. This needs to be taken into account if it comes to a change in the law of origin of goods. Maybe it would make more sense to write a whole new law instead of making changes to it, where the focus is on creativeness and creativity. The production assembly line, the location of invoicing for a product and the location of payment for licensing fees for brand utilization rights are part of the whole, but they are not a decisive factor for the determination of “Made in …”.