The TÜV groups
Overview of the TÜV groups
The TÜV Trademark Association (TÜV Markenverbund e.V.) is an alliance of the TÜV Technical Inspection Associations. Its task is the world-wide protection and strengthening of all TÜV brands.
For historical reasons, the trademark “TÜV” is now jointly owned by seven TÜV groups: TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, TÜV NORD, TÜV AUSTRIA, TÜV Hessen, TÜV Thüringen and TÜV Saarland. Therefore they all share the trademark name “TÜV”, but they are independent of each other and in competition with each other.
The TÜV Trademark Association is a central organisation which ensures that the “TÜV” trademark, as a jointly owned asset of outstanding value, is systematically and uniformly protected and maintained to a high standard.
History of the TÜV companies
TÜV stands for “Technischer Überwachungsverein” (Technical Inspection Association). The predecessors of the TÜV Technical Inspection Associations arose about 150 years ago during the first industrial revolution. At that time, several industrial steam boilers had recently exploded. A number of industrial companies then came together in Mannheim and founded the first “Company for the Monitoring and Insurance of Steam Boilers” (Gesellschaft zur Überwachung und Versicherung von Dampfkesseln, DÜV)”. They carried out regular inspections and training courses and issued uniform technical standards, and this greatly improved the safety of the systems. Because this initiative was successful, the underlying idea was also applied to other technical areas. The “DÜV” was renamed as “TÜV”, and since 1979 “TÜV” has also been protected under trademark law. Today, the unmistakable trademark “TÜV” is one of the best-known trademarks in Germany. It is the epitome of the highest safety standards, and with its brand values of safety, neutrality and reliability it has gained universal trust in Germany and throughout the world. Many people do not realise that “TÜV” is actually a commercial trademark. Even the separate TÜV companies are often not seen as commercial enterprises, many think of them as state institutions. This is a unique commendation for business companies which sell neutral safety tests.
Is there a “definitive” TÜV company?
No. In Germany today there are six TÜV groups which are actually in competition with each other: TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, TÜV NORD, TÜV Hessen, TÜV Thüringen and TÜV Saarland. In Austria there is also TÜV AUSTRIA. There were once even more TÜV organisations because compliance with minimum technical standards was under the political responsibility of the federal states or regions. They entrusted the practical implementation of these standards to the TÜV organisations, and this led to the regional TÜV structure. The TÜV organisations had a monopoly within the individual regions and were only allowed to offer their services in their own region. This changed with the liberalisation of the testing and inspection market in the 1990s. Some of the TÜV organisations then merged. To differentiate themselves from each other, they decided to keep their former regional names as an identifying part of their company names (name suffix), but it no longer describes the geographical area where they operate. They use the TÜV name with their name suffix in their company names, logos and test marks. The company logo expresses the identity of each TÜV company, and the test marks are used to certify the successfully tested objects.
