found this one... well realistic it's more important for students who plan to stay in Germany for longer... but keep this in mind anyway...
this warning belongs to anyone who carries TV, car radio, Laptop, mobile phones in Germany....

[url=http://www.gez-abschaffen.de/Reisewarnung.htm]

Travel Warning for the Federal Republic of Germany!

Attention! Warning of committing an infringement of rules according to § 9 Abs. 1 Satz 1 RfGebStV while staying in or travelling through the Federal Republic of Germany! Foreigners who operate a Rundfunkempfangsgerät when staying, working or studying in the Federal Republic of Germany are obliged to register the Rundfunkempfangsgerät with the Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ) within one month from the date of entry into the Federal Republic of Germany or from the date of commencement of the operation of the Rundfunkempfangsgerät. Non-residents who fail to do so may be subject to a fine of up to 1.000 Euro. On leaving the Federal Republic of Germany the licence for the operation of a Rundfungempfangsgerät is to be canceled with the Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ) or the Landesrundfunkanstalt in charge at the place of work, study or holiday using a registered letter with reply to show receipt. In the case of non-compliance the bearer of the licence for the operation of a Rundfunkempfangsgerät will be entitled to back payment of the fees not paid in accordance with the regulations stipulated in § 1 Abs. 1, 2, 3; § 2 Abs. 1, 2, 3 RfGebStV upon re-entering the Federal Republic of Germany.

The aformentioned rules equally apply to foreigners who travel through the Federal Republic of Germany by train, car, other means of transport or on foot. Failing to do so may result in forced licensing with the Gebühreneinzugszentrale (GEZ) by the Rundfunkgebührenbeauftragten in charge at the place of detection of the infringement of rules. Ignorance is no excuse.

Transit passengers carying Rundfunkempfangsgerät and seeking to avoid an infringement of rules of the kind mentioned above should cross the Federal Republic of Germany by air or circumvent the Federal Republic of Germany by seagoing vessel outside German territorial waters.

Please inform friends and aquaintances!



Notice: This is not a Travel Warning by Auswärtiges Amt. This Travel Warning does not give legal reasons for the cancellation
of bookings free of charge with travel agencies, tour operators or carriers!

__________________
The trouble is that he was talking in philosophy, but they were listening in gibberish.

leave it to the Germans. I'll betcha the administration of this nonsense cost the taxpayer more money then the revenue generated

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

Well, the GEZ is well known for the rude and overreaching approach. The fee is similar to the UK broadcasting fee. Basically, by German law public broadcasting cannot be paid for with tax money. Hence the substantial fee. The GEZ has long argued that everyone has a TV and/or radio and thus must pay. It was up to you to proof you don't. It was enough to own one. It doesn't have to be installed. Since the public broadcasting stations started to have an internet presence and started to stream content it has been argued that anyone having a computer, smartphone, etc. will have to pay. Of course they weren't asked to provide that content. Since everyone has to pay they may as well use tax money instead of having a special agency, which spies on citizens. Lot's of money wasted, dozens of TV and radio stations, well and above the original (important!) public broadcasting mandate.

Shouldn't affect you when traveling though. However, if you use someone else's address to register a vehicle that data will be passed on to the GEZ and you may receive a letter at that address asking you to pay. Happened to me.

The law is about to change and there should be only one fee for each household, instead for everyone in the household. So even the above scenario shouldn't be a problem anymore.

The web site quoted above is a campaign to abolish the GEZ fee. So the scare mongering is no coincidence.

They proudly claim to be the most efficient "Behoerde" in the country :-)))

While most of us hate them with a passion the idea behind it was actually sound. After WWII the government was not supposed to ever have any influence over public broadcasting. Hence the fee and not the tax. In reality the boardrooms of the broadcasting companies are filled with ex politicians and there is always considerable influence :-(

That's an oxymoron right there "efficient Behörde".

But, seriously, I was not aware of the history behind it, thanx for explaining that

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

Hola,

I had a good laugh, thank you for posting it here. Yes, Germany is a dangerous place if you get involved with the Behörde - so stay away ;-)

Saludos de Salta
Mika

Hey Spooky,

don´t scare people!
Your warning is rather unrealistic, at least for motorcycle travellers visiting our country.
What do you intend with this post? This is a forum for motorcycle travellers and not for exchange students etc.

That rule is not really practicable: it will not be enforced by e.g. police, who might stop mc-traveller´s for a generell traffic control.
The only one who cares about this, is the GEZ itself. And they can´t enforce it regarding motorcycle travellers passing through Germany.

Greetings from a German motorycle traveller in Ecuador

Panny

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www.krad-vagabunden.de

Not when it comes to enforcement of rules, I'm afraid.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Hey spooky you need a Bescheinigung to post stuff like that

In all seriousness are they really going to waste valuable police time to see that every foreign bike or car has a license for their radio, smart phone etc? I think not.

I transit Germany a lot as I travel from the UK to Austria and back and I've never had any trouble. I am not sure it is something that the Polizei are even thinking about.

They'd also have to catch me first and after watching "Autobahn Polizei" a few times I now know all of their moves

Hi Everywherevirtually,

I explained it in my post above: the police will not enforce any GEZ-rule!
IF police might stop you in the context of a general traffic control or why ever, they won´t ask you about the GEZ-thing. It´s not their business!

cheers

Panny

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www.krad-vagabunden.de

Hola todos,


Panny, I agree with you, this warning from Spooky is not important for any motorcycle traveller visiting Germany. And I thought it is a joke he made here.

But Panny, I disagree with you, about the police not working together with the GEZ.

I left Germany in 1999, but sometimes I read the news, so I cant really tell you if this article is true or not.

GEZ jagt Abtrünnige mit der Polizei

This article says, that the German police is looking for radios in cars and reports it to the GEZ.

Anyway, Spookys warning about GEZ and German police should not be on this forum.

Panny, if you ever come to Salta Argentina, I invite you for a and for sure we dont talk about GEZ and German police.

Saludos
Mika

I'm afraid... this travel warning I posted is not a joke... but describes a rather bizarrly and ruthless behaver of some institution called the GEZ... or may rather there so called "self employed" members who make money by tricking innocent people to there good... in case some of this guys manage to trick you in to a registration, he will keep 50% of the profit in to his own pocket, the other 50% gets the GEZ.... just to put it simple the GEZ is a modern "robber baron" system.

I agree that this stuff is not important to bike travellers, and I did mention that before, but keep in mind, a "iPhone" or "laptop" used in a public place on your tour trip can get you in to trouble in Germany when you are not registered with the GEZ... (I wouldn't bother).. Well yeah the chance is very slim to get caught... but can happened in a public park, pub, cafe or any other place where you may cross the way of some of this freelance GEZ guys who thinks that you may would make a easy victim.
My advice... pretend not to understand what he is talking about and walk away...
About the Police... well they are not part of this game... an individual GEZ guy may or may not call the Police for assistance to proof your identity to put more pressure on you, but it's definitely not the polices job to be a little GEZ-helper..

see I'm not what you would consider a "patriot" Germany, I'm holding this damn passport which declares and stamps me as a German... "I'm a human" at first than after that "European", in mind and heard... so I enjoy kicking back where ever I can to hurt stupid national habits...
By the way, I managed to be "not" registered with the GEZ for 50 years by now... and know how to avoid being caught by this bastards..

On the other hand... well HUBB members are not that stupid to judge a post like the initial one in the right way... (well I hope so...), rather use this to make there own decisions...

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The trouble is that he was talking in philosophy, but they were listening in gibberish.

spooky by name
spooky by posts!
too much bavarian I fink!