Advertising with Certification Marks: Consumers must be able to view the Testing Criteria

Certification marks like seals and certificates are a popular way for companies to stress the quality of their products. They convey to consumers that a neutral certification body with the appropriate technical expertise has objectively tested the products for quality and safety.

As the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof) has now found (Case No. I ZR 26/15), the preconditions which led to the issuance of a certain mark have to be made transparent: if a certification mark is used for advertising purposes, the testing criteria must be disclosed in the advertising. But the very advantage of a certification mark consists of the fact that it is an advertising message which is condensed into a bold and simple statement. Accordingly, the testing criteria may be presented online in order to avoid overloading the advertisement with text, provided a footnote is included making reference to the website containing these criteria.

If certification marks are to be used in advertising, the requirements established by the case law must be observed. It is important in this regard to involve the body which issued the certification as early as possible, since it will have to provide the testing criteria necessary for publication by the advertiser.