In general, contracts should have a term of at most one year: Federal Minister of Justice Katarina Barley wants to prohibit long contract periods according to a report of the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung" - especially mobile phone users, but also people who have a landline connection, could benefit from the ban.
The Union is in favor of the project. "Where it is necessary - such as in fitness or telephone contracts - we support improvements for the consumer," said the CDU deputy Sebastian Steineke, responsible rapporteur of the Union faction, the "FAS". For services, which are carried out only once a year, he wanted to have checked whether the proposal from the Ministry disadvantages the consumer.
The ban on biennial contracts is, according to the report, part of a package that the minister uses to tackle suspected cost traps. In addition to the limitation of the contract period, the project is also directed against unauthorized telephone advertising and high collection costs.