An Abmahnung is a formal warning letter from a competitor or an association, demanding that you stop an unfair commercial practice and sign a cease-and-desist declaration backed by a contractual penalty (§§ 8 and 13 of the German Unfair Competition Act, UWG). For marketplace sellers it is usually about missing mandatory information or banned claims in a listing. This guide covers who may send one, what it can cost, what to do when you receive one — and how to remove the most common grounds beforehand.
What an Abmahnung is
Anyone who engages in an unfair commercial practice can be required to remove it and, where there is a risk of repetition, to refrain from it (§ 8(1) UWG). Before going to court, the claimant should send a warning and give you the chance to settle by signing a cease-and-desist declaration (Unterlassungserklärung) with an appropriate contractual penalty (§ 13(1) UWG).
For marketplace sellers § 3a UWG matters most: breaching a statutory rule that regulates market conduct — such as the Price Indication Ordinance or the EU Textile Regulation — is itself unfair. On top of that come misleading statements (§ 5 UWG) and the blacklist annexed to the UWG, which bans, for example, generic environmental claims outright.
Separate from competition law are warnings for trade mark or copyright infringement, such as using someone else’s product photos or brand names in your title. Different rules apply to them; the UWG cost limits described below do not.
Who may send one
Under § 8(3) UWG only these may claim:
- Competitors that sell goods or services to a not insignificant extent and not just occasionally — real competitors, not shell companies.
- Trade associations entered in the list of qualified trade associations kept by the Federal Office of Justice, with a substantial number of members in the same market.
- Qualified consumer associations, such as the consumer advice centres (Verbraucherzentralen), and qualified entities from other EU countries.
- Chambers of commerce and industry, chambers of crafts and other professional bodies.
Under § 13(2) UWG the letter must state clearly who is sending it, why they are entitled to, what the infringement is and whether and how costs are claimed and calculated. If anything is missing, there is no claim to costs, and you may be able to recover your own defence costs (§ 13(5) UWG).
Costs and contractual penalties: what the law limits
If the warning is justified and formally correct, the sender may claim the necessary costs (§ 13(3) UWG) — for a lawyer, fees under the German Lawyers’ Remuneration Act calculated from the value of the claim. Since the 2020 reform there are important limits:
- Competitors cannot claim costs for breaches of statutory information and labelling duties in e-commerce, whatever the size of your business (§ 13(4) no. 1 UWG); the threshold of fewer than 250 employees applies only to data protection breaches (no. 2). This covers missing mandatory information in online offers, such as the legal notice or the unit price; how far the term reaches is disputed in individual cases. Associations are not covered by this limit.
- On a competitor’s first warning for such a breach, no contractual penalty may be agreed if you normally employ fewer than 100 people (§ 13a(2) UWG).
- If the breach affects consumers and competitors only insignificantly and you have fewer than 100 employees, the penalty may not exceed €1,000 (§ 13a(3) UWG).
- If you promise an inappropriately high penalty, you owe only an appropriate one (§ 13a(4) UWG).
Abusive warnings are not allowed (§ 8c UWG). Signs include: the warning mainly serves to generate fees, the value of the claim is set unreasonably high, the declaration demanded goes beyond the breach, or several breaches that could have been raised together are warned about separately. You will find no flat cost figures here on purpose: the amount depends on the case.
Typical grounds for marketplace sellers
| Breach | Legal basis and guide |
|---|---|
| Unit price missing or per 100 g | §§ 4 and 5 PAngV — unit price in Germany |
| “umweltfreundlich”, “klimaneutral”, “nachhaltig” without proof | UWG blacklist since 27 September 2026 — green claims ban |
| “CE-geprüft”, “TÜV-geprüft” without a test | § 5 UWG — CE and test claims |
| “bamboo”, missing percentages on textiles | Regulation (EU) 1007/2011 — textile fibre names |
| Missing WEEE number for your own electrical brand | § 6(3) ElektroG — LUCID, WEEE and battery numbers |
| Medical claims for cosmetics | cosmetics claims |
| Missing toy warnings | toy warnings online |
| Missing manufacturer and safety information | Article 19 GPSR since 13 December 2024 — GPSR information |
A special case: the EU online dispute resolution (ODR) platform was shut down on 20 July 2025: Regulation (EU) 2024/3228 repealed the ODR Regulation with effect from that date, and with it the duty to link to the platform. An old link in your legal notice, terms or seller profile now points nowhere and may be treated as misleading — remove it. If you once signed a cease-and-desist declaration over a missing ODR link, have it checked whether you need to terminate it before deleting the link. Information duties under the German Consumer Dispute Resolution Act remain.
Especially on Amazon: if you attach your offer to an existing product page, you are liable for its content. The Federal Court of Justice requires sellers to check their offers regularly for changes made by others (BGH, 3 March 2016, I ZR 140/14).
You received one: what to do now
- Do not ignore it. The sender sets the deadline, often only a few days. Without a response, a preliminary injunction may follow — in competition law the urgency does not have to be specifically shown (§ 12(1) UWG).
- Check: is the sender entitled (§ 8(3)), does the letter contain everything required (§ 13(2)), are there signs of abuse (§ 8c), and is there actually a breach?
- Fix the problem immediately — in all offers, variations and marketplaces, including your own shop and ads.
- Do not sign the enclosed declaration unchecked. It has no end date, and every later breach can trigger the penalty. A modified declaration is often sensible: limited to the specific breach, without accepting costs, with a penalty set by the creditor at its reasonable discretion and subject to review by a court.
- Pay costs only to the extent they are owed — see § 13(4) UWG above.
- For disputes about the penalty you can turn to the conciliation board at the chamber of commerce (§ 13a(5), § 15 UWG).
- For online breaches, only the regional court where you are based has jurisdiction (§ 14(2) UWG), not any court the sender chooses — provided you have your general place of jurisdiction in Germany.
Get advice from a lawyer specialising in competition law; many seller associations offer this to members. A declaration, once given, is very hard to undo.
Prevention: checklist before you publish
- Unit price per 1 kg, 1 l or 1 m next to every price, including variations and multipacks.
- No generic environmental claims — check supplier copy before reusing it, for example with the claims checker.
- No “CE-geprüft”, “TÜV-geprüft” or “dermatologisch getestet” without proof.
- Manufacturer, EU responsible person and safety information in the offer — the GPSR generator builds the block.
- Textiles with permitted fibre names and percentages.
- WEEE number in the offer if you are the producer of electrical equipment.
- No more ODR platform link; legal notice and seller profile up to date.
- Check Amazon product pages you are attached to regularly for changes by others.
Check your listing
The free listing check finds many of these traps in one pass: generic environmental claims, “CE-geprüft” and test-seal wording, missing GPSR and textile information, and reminders on unit price, WEEE and batteries — no account needed. It is not legal advice, but it shows you where to look more closely.