Commenting on the ongoing discussion about a successful voluntary commitment of the private sector, BDA Managing Director Steffen Kampeter said:

Berlin, 25 March 2021. The leading associations of German industry have appealed to their members to expand existing testing capacities to support timely infection control. This appeal has been followed unbureaucratically and successfully by companies of more than half of all employees already in the first days. More companies are joining in every day. In doing so, they also encounter challenges, such as integrating testing into operational processes, or obstacles, for example, in obtaining self-tests due to slow approvals. We are addressing these challenges with education, joint procurement and encouragement.

We expect a high participation rate from companies by Easter. However, we have deliberately not set a target in view of the extensive challenges involved in procuring and conducting the test. After all, public employers show that not everything works overnight for them either.

Crushing private, self-responsible engagement, however, are statements from the political sphere that think these challenges can be solved by mandatory testing. Procurement delays, however, cannot be remedied by regulation. In view of a partial organisational failure and management errors on the part of political actors at the state and federal level, announcements such as "to give a helping hand" or threatening references to an alleged lack of civic responsibility have an inappropriate effect on the business community and are probably more intended to distract attention from their own deficits.

Today, the leading associations of German business, BDA, BDI, DIHK and ZDH have gone live with a joint website to also give the business community's commitment to testing a virtual face. On this page we jointly post all FAQ's, survey results, best practice examples and much more. With the joint hashtag #WirtschaftTestet we are also mobilising on social media.

Here is the link to the unlocked website: www.wirtschafttestetgegencorona.de