Overview

• In case I ZR 43/24, the Bundesgerichtshof ruled that hearing aid loyalty point offers must be valued no more than one euro.
• Chair judge Thomas Koch specified that only immediate price reductions on the device are exempt from this cap.
• The decision overturns a Hamburg appellate court’s earlier five-euro limit for ‘geringwertige Kleinigkeiten’ in medical product advertising.
• The ruling reinforces the Heilmittelwerbegesetz ban on most promotional gifts to ensure incentives do not influence consumer purchases.
• A Wettbewerbszentrale complaint challenged a retailer’s Payback scheme granting one cent per euro spent as a breach of medical advertising rules.