So, you’re looking to bring your faucets, showers, or plumbing components into the German market? That’s a fantastic goal. It’s a high-value market known for its appreciation of quality. But you’ve probably already run into a pair of intimidating acronyms: DVGW and KTW-BWGL.

It can seem confusing, but I’m here to help you break it down. Think of this as your guide to understanding what they are, how they work together, and what you need to do to get your products onto the shelves.

Table of Content

The “Two-Boss” System: Who’s in Charge Here?

The first thing to know is that Germany’s compliance system is a unique “public-private” partnership. You have two main players you need to know.

The Government (The “Lawmaker”): UBA

The Umweltbundesamt (UBA), or German Environment Agency, sets the legal standards for drinking water safety. Their main rulebook for faucets and fittings is the KTW-BWGL.

KTW-BWGL logo

The Industry (The “Certifier”): DVGW

The DVGW (German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water) is a respected non-profit that certifies compliance with UBA rules. Its certification body, DVGW CERT GmbH, issues the DVGW mark — the trusted seal of approval in the German market.

DVGW logo

Here’s the key takeaway:
These two aren’t competitors. They are sequential. The UBA sets the legal hygiene requirements , and the DVGW offers the certification to verify you meet those requirements. In fact, to get a DVGW hygiene certificate, you must first prove you comply with the UBA’s KTW-BWGL.

The Legal Hurdle: What is KTW-BWGL?

Let’s start with the legal foundation. KTW-BWGL stands for the “Evaluation criteria for plastics and other organic materials in contact with drinking water”.

As of March 21, 2021, this is a mandatory law. All old, non-binding guidelines became obsolete. This law applies to every single organic (non-metal) component in your faucet or shower that touches water.

This includes:

  • Plastic cartridges

  • Flexible hoses

  • Organic coatings

  • Elastomer (rubber) O-rings and seals

  • Even the sanitary lubricants (grease) used inside the valve

The KTW-BWGL has two primary goals to protect consumers:

The KTW-BWGL ensures no harmful chemicals migrate from materials into drinking water. It uses a Positive List system—every ingredient in a component (like polymers, additives, curing agents) must be pre-approved by the UBA, requiring full transparency from all suppliers.

Materials must not support bacterial growth. Even chemically safe materials can form biofilm, so KTW-BWGL requires testing under DVGW W 270 (or EN 16421). This shows how UBA’s rules connect directly to DVGW’s technical standards.

The Commercial “Must-Have”: The DVGW Mark

Okay, so you’ve sourced hoses and seals that are KTW-BWGL compliant. You’re done, right?

Not quite. While KTW-BWGL compliance is the legal necessity for your materials , the DVGW mark is the commercial necessity for your finished product. This is the mark installers and consumers look for.

A full DVGW certification on a faucet is a much bigger deal. It’s a holistic approval that says the entire product is safe, durable, and high-quality. It covers two distinct pillars :

Pillar 1: Hygienic Suitability

This part confirms that you’ve done your homework. It verifies that…

  • All your organic parts (plastics, seals) comply with the KTW-BWGL.
  • All your metallic parts (the brass body, the spout) comply with the UBA’s separate Evaluation Criteria for Metals.

Pillar 2: Functional & Mechanical Performance

This is what sets the DVGW mark apart—it proves your faucet performs well and is built to last. Unlike the KTW-BWGL, DVGW also checks flow rate through a series of rigorous performance tests, including:

  • Mechanical & Durability Tests: Simulating years of use, high-pressure tests, and checking for leaks.
  • Flow Rate Tests: Does it deliver the water it promises at standard pressures?
  • Acoustic (Noise) Tests: A hallmark of German engineering—your faucet is tested to prevent whistling, humming, or “water hammer” noise, as Germany’s building codes strictly limit sound between apartments.
DVGW certification process

(via.DVGW-CERT»)

How You Get It: The “System 1+” Process

So, how do you get certified? Finished faucets and showers fall under the highest-risk category, “P1,” requiring the strict “System 1+” procedure—an ongoing factory audit, not just a one-time product test. Here’s what it includes:

  • Initial Type Test: You submit your product and all your supplier’s confidential formulation data to an accredited lab.
  • Initial Factory Inspection: An auditor visits your factory to verify your quality control system and ensure you can consistently produce the same high-quality product.
  • Annual Surveillance (The “Plus”): This is the “plus” in “System 1+”. They come back to audit your factory and re-test products every year.

This “System 1+” process ties your certificate to your specific product, made with specific materials from specific suppliers, at one specific factory. If you want to change your O-ring supplier to save money, you must notify the certification body and likely re-test.

Feeling Overwhelmed? A Simpler Path

Reading about “System 1+” factory audits and formulation disclosures probably sounds complicated, time-consuming, and expensive. It is.

If you’re a brand, distributor, or project manager, you might be thinking, “I just want to sell beautiful, high-quality faucets. I don’t want to become an expert in German supply chain compliance.”

This is where we at Lanerdi» can help. As a dedicated faucet manufacturer since 2003, we specialize in OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) services. We’ve already done this heavy lifting for you.

We are proud to have earned key certifications, including DVGW and KTW, to ensure our products meet these high standards. Our products are ready for the European market , having passed the rigorous testing you just read about.

This means you can partner with us and choose from our range of fully compliant products, or we can build your unique design (ODM), knowing the complex certification and manufacturing backbone is already in place. You get to focus on your brand and your customers, while we handle the manufacturing compliance.

Lanerdi faucet and shower with DVGW and KTW certification

Your Checklist: What to Ask a Potential Supplier

Whether you work with us or another supplier, you need to be an informed procurer. When sourcing faucets for the German market, here are the key questions you should ask any potential manufacturing partner:

Don’t accept a simple “yes, we are compliant.” Ask for the actual PDF of the DVGW certificate or the KTW-BWGL attestation of conformity. Check the dates—these certifications are typically valid for 5 years.

This is a pro-level question. A KTW-BWGL attestation is good—it means the materials are hygienic. But a full DVGW mark is better, as it proves the entire assembled product has also passed mechanical, durability, and all-important noise tests.

Remember the “System 1+” process. A certificate is tied to a specific production location. If a company shows you a certificate for their “German factory” but plans to make your products in their “China factory”, that certificate is invalid for your order.

A serious supplier will have a confident answer. They should be able to explain how they control their raw materials and ensure their O-ring, hose, and lubricant suppliers haven’t changed the formulations. A vague answer is a major red flag.

Be wary of “self-declarations.” For high-risk (P1) products like faucets, a manufacturer’s “self-declaration” is generally not considered sufficient to get your product to market. You need a formal Attestation of Conformity issued by an accredited certification body (like DVGW CERT, Kiwa, etc.).

The Big Payoff: Why This Is a “Future-Proof” Investment

I know it sounds like a lot of work—but here’s the key point.

Right now, Europe has separate national approvals: DVGW for Germany, ACS for France, WRAS for the UK, etc.—costly and redundant.

The new EU Drinking Water Directive (DWD 2020/2184) will unify these into one system with EU-wide “positive lists.” Once certified, your product can be sold anywhere in the EU without extra tests.

Since the new directive is based on the German KTW-BWGL model, achieving KTW-BWGL compliance now means you’re already preparing for future EU standards.

By 2026–2027, when the new rules take effect, you’ll be ready—while others scramble to catch up. The path to DVGW and KTW-BWGL is demanding but the smartest long-term strategy for success across Europe.

FAQs

The testing phase alone is quite lengthy. The migration tests for chemical leaching typically take about 8 to 12 weeks, and the microbiological growth test (DVGW W 270 / EN 16421) takes 4 months to complete. This does not include the initial application, document review, factory inspection scheduling, and final certificate issuance, so the entire process from start to finish can take a significant amount of time.

No. These certifications are specific to the German market, although they are highly respected across Europe. The United States has its own mandatory standards, primarily NSF/ANSI/CAN 61, which covers the health effects of drinking water components. You would need this separate certification to sell in the US and Canada.

Yes, for now. National approvals are still required. You would need the ACS (Attestation de Conformité Sanitaire) for France and WRAS approval for the United Kingdom. This is the exact problem the new harmonized EU Drinking Water Directive is designed to solve in the coming years.

If a product fails a surveillance test, the certification body (DVGW CERT GmbH) can suspend or withdraw the certificate. The manufacturer must immediately investigate, document the corrective actions taken, and resolve any deficiencies. This may require a full re-test to prove the product is compliant again.

The exact costs aren’t fixed. The final price depends on the complexity of the product and the extent of testing required. The certification body’s fees will include the costs charged by the accredited laboratory for conducting all the necessary tests (hygienic, mechanical, acoustic, etc.) as well as the costs for the factory audits.

That’s a key distinction. KTW-BWGL only applies to organic (non-metal) materials like plastics, rubber seals, and lubricants. The metal components are covered by a separate, parallel German Environment Agency (UBA) regulation called the “Evaluation Criteria for Metallic Materials” (Metall-Bewertungsgrundlage). A full DVGW certification verifies that both sets of UBA requirements are met.

The UBA categorizes products based on their surface-to-volume ratio (how much material touches the water).

  • P1 is the highest-risk group, for products with a large surface area (>10%) like pipes, hoses, and assembled faucets. These must use the full “System 1+” certification with factory audits.
  • P2 (1-10% area) and P3 (<1% area, like a single small O-ring) are lower-risk groups. They can often use a simpler certification process based on a “type test” without the mandatory annual factory audits.

Direct from Factory

OEM & ODM SUPPORT

competitive price
faucets & showers

Get your custom inquiry >