Made in Germany

The label was introduced in Britain by the Merchandise Marks Act 1887 (50 & 51 Vict.

Most of these were found to be originating from Germany, whose government had introduced a protectionist policy to legally prohibit the import of goods in order to build up domestic industry (Merchandise Marks Act - Oxford University Press).

[2] According to Professor Asaf Zussman, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, in "The Rise of German Protectionism in the 1870s: A Macroeconomic Perspective",[3] the "Rye and Iron" tariffs introduced by Bismarck's Germany in 1879 caused a major reduction of imports in order to protect Germany's industries.

As a response, the Free-trade Liberal government in the UK introduced the Merchandise Marks act to allow consumers to be able to choose whether or not they would continue to purchase goods from protectionist economies.

In 1995, the Oberlandesgericht Stuttgart ruled that the term Made in Germany is misleading according to Germany's Fair Trades Act when the largest part is not German raw materials or German craftsmanship.