For motorists, the vehicle tax may increase. A new emissions test will be used for vehicles registered from September 1, 2018. In principle, the vehicle tax is expected to go up. However, the German automobile club ADAC discovered that in the case of a Subaru, the vehicle tax will decrease. Other vehicle taxes will increase by at least 20.5 percent. The finance ministry could pocket an extra 173 million euros in 2019, estimates car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Beginning September 1, 2018, Ikea will only take back goods that are new and unused. "By restricting the right of return to unused products, we also want to make sure that customers do not dispose of furniture and home accessories after a short use, but rather that they appreciate the value of the product in terms of resources necessary to produce it," said Ikea Germany boss Dennis Balslev in the newspaper "Die Welt". Ikea last tightened its return policy in 2016 when it said items had to be brought back within 365 days. Previous to that, there had been no time limit on returns.

The EU is saying goodbye to halogen lightbulbs with a ban on them. The halogen bulbs will follow the path of the old incandescent lightbulbs. It’s an energy-saving measure. Not affected are spotlights, desk lights and flood lights. Stores are allowed to sell their remaining stock, however. Energy-saving lamps and LED lights are alternatives for the consumer.

There will be change in the routine of how people withdraw cash from an ATM in all Sparkasse branches. It used to be that one entered a pin number and then the desired amount of cash, but this will be reversed at the beginning of the month. According to Jörg Wehner from the Sparkasse-Köln-Bonn, the reason for the change was that tricksters had tried to distract people who had already entered their PIN in order to change the amount of money entered and then steal it.

(Orig. text: Stephan Werschkull (with material from dpa), Translation: ck)