New month brings changes: fuel discount, alcohol ban at train stations, winter time and more

No more alcohol at train stations and the clocks will be changed again: the new month brings changes in various areas from gardening to pension provision.

Drivers should benefit from the fuel discount. (Symbolic image) Photo: Jan Woitas/dpa

Berlin. Summer time is ending again and the alcohol ban at train stations is coming – a look at the innovations in October.

Fueling should become cheaper again

After months of frustration at the pump, there is a ray of hope for drivers: from October 1st to December 31st, the energy tax on diesel and gasoline is to be reduced by around 14 cents per liter. According to the government, including VAT, this results in a reduction of 17 cents per liter at the pump. The Bundestag and Bundesrat initiated this immediately before the last weekend in September. There was already a two-month fuel discount in the spring.

Alcohol ban at all train stations

By banning alcohol at all German train stations, Deutsche Bahn wants to improve safety for passengers and employees as well as cleanliness. The ban is to be gradually implemented at 5,400 train stations by October 15th. The consumption ban then applies in the entire station area including the platforms. Violations should result in expulsion, and repeat offenses should result in a ban from the premises.

Switching to winter time

Winter time starts - and we get another hour: Summer time ends in Germany and in most European countries on the last Sunday in October. On the night of Sunday, October 25th, the clocks will be set back from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Hedge cutting allowed again

Have the hedges and bushes in your garden grown a lot again over the summer? From October 1st, these can be radically trimmed or removed again. Then the closed season, which has been running since the beginning of March and serves to protect nesting birds and other animals, ends.

Central pension register

Powers of attorney, living wills and care directives can be stored digitally as copies in the central health care register. In an emergency, doctors or care courts can check which documents are available and view them immediately. Previously, they could only see what documents existed and where they were kept. The documents are not uploaded by those affected, but by institutional, verified users - these are notaries or lawyers.

Less perennial chemicals in clothing and cosmetics

Whether it's a rain jacket, pizza box or skin care products: PFAS - these are surface and heat-resistant chemicals - are encountered by consumers in many places in everyday life. They are particularly long-lasting and hardly break down in the environment. Some of these “forever chemicals” are suspected of being harmful to health. From October 10th, new EU rules will apply to a certain subgroup of PFAS. In the future, some products will only be allowed to contain PFAS in smaller quantities or will have to be manufactured with different coatings and recipes.

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