There is a very good reason why the German market is not flooded with cheap and nasty friction materials. Regarded by some as protectionism, there are very good reasons why Germany adopts what they call a TUV testing and ABE certification, especially on safety products such as brakes.

As far as brake pads are concerned, the new ECE R90 brake safety regulation replaces the need for TUV testing and ABE certification. However, there are no current regulations in ECE R90 for disc brake rotors and therefore the TUV testing is still extremely important to guarantee consumer safety.

Although essentially a German network, the TUV has branches in many countries around the world and the testing work that they do is regarded as a quality endorsement by many other European countries. The TUV is a private network of independent testing centres throughout Germany who submit their test results to the German KBA organisation to receive a certificate known as an ABE.