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The DIHK, or Deutsche Industrie und Handelskammer, is the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is the umbrella organization of the 79 Chambers of Commerce and Industry (IHKs) and the body that coordinates the network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHKs). Together they represent the interests of more than three million companies. This guide explains who the DIHK is, how the IHK and AHK network fits together, and how RB Advertising manufactures and documents custom apparel for German buyers and chamber member firms.
Written for German buyers, sourcing teams, chamber member firms, and wholesale apparel buyers who work with the German business community.
The German chamber system runs on three levels. Each level has its own job, and the three connect into a single structure that reaches from a town in Bavaria to a buyer in Manila.
The 79 regional chambers are the base of the system. Almost every firm in Germany is a statutory member. The IHKs advise local companies, run vocational examinations, and feed regional experience upward into national policy.
The DIHK is the umbrella. It pools what the IHKs learn and carries that voice into German and European policy in Berlin and Brussels. It is the national voice of the commercial economy.
Abroad, the network runs through 150 chambers, delegate offices, and representations in more than 90 countries. The DIHK coordinates and develops the AHK network, and the AHKs support German firms that trade and invest abroad.
The DIHK is a corporation under public law, and its positions are not written in a back room. They are built through a broad participation process that runs from the individual firm up to the national position, so that what it puts in front of government reflects the diversity of the German economy.
The organization has tracked German economic policy for more than 160 years, from currency and tariffs to the social market economy and open markets. These are the turning points.
On May 13, 1861, in Heidelberg, 91 chambers of commerce and cooperatives founded the Deutscher Handelstag (DHT) to press for better conditions on currency, tariffs, measures, and weights.
The DHT became the Deutscher Industrie und Handelstag (DIHT) and professionalized as economic policy requirements grew. In 1926 it set up a vocational training committee, the start of a long role in skills.
The DIHT was re-established on October 27, 1949, in Ludwigshafen. It advocated for the IHKs as self administration bodies of the economy and for the social market economy.
After the decision to seat the German parliament and government in Berlin, the DIHT moved to the capital in 1999, placing the organization beside national policy making.
Two years after the move, the organization changed its name to the Deutscher Industrie und Handelskammertag (DIHK), the name it carried into the 2020s.
On January 1, 2023, the former DIHK registered association was transformed into a corporation under public law, with a Council for Integrity and Arbitration and a clear competency framework.
The DIHK focuses only on issues that directly affect the economy. Its policy work is organized around the themes that decide how competitive a German firm can be.
Open markets, trade agreements, and the conditions that let German firms export. The DIHK carries the experience of the AHK network back into trade policy.
The cost and reliability of energy for industry, and the climate rules that shape how German firms produce and trade.
The shortage of workers is one of the biggest brakes on German growth. The DIHK works on the conditions that bring skilled people into the workforce.
Vocational training and the dual system the IHKs help run, plus the standards that keep German qualifications trusted by employers.
Digital infrastructure, data rules, and the technology that decides how competitive a German firm can be in the years ahead.
Roads, rail, ports, and networks. The physical base that lets goods and people move at a competitive cost.
Taxes, bureaucracy, and the rules that shape whether Germany is an attractive place to build, hire, and grow a business.
The DIHK coordinates the AHK network, and one of those chambers sits in Metro Manila. That is the node a Philippine exporter or a German buyer in the country actually deals with.
The German Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI) has traded as AHK Philippinen since 2015, when it joined the network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad. It is based in Makati City, and it is the official representation of German business in the Philippines. As an AHK, it is coordinated by the DIHK and proportionately funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Read the GPCCI guideGermany Trade & Invest (GTAI) is the federal agency for foreign trade and inward investment. It works alongside the AHK network and the IHKs, so a German buyer researching Philippine sourcing will often meet the two bodies together.
Read the GTAI guideThe DIHK is the coordinating body, not a service desk for individual orders. Confirm current member services and contact details with the chamber itself at philippinen.ahk.de or with the DIHK at dihk.de.
German buyers, chamber member firms, and inbound trade delegations order our apparel for forums, expos, missions, and staff programs. We manufacture in the Philippines and document the export for the buyers who use it.
Pique and performance polos with chest embroidery for member firms, chamber staff, and trade mission teams.
Formal and business casual shirts finished with precision embroidery of a company or council mark, produced in volume.
Quick dry shirts and singlets for forums, expos, and delegation kits, printed or sublimated with event branding.
Our factory is registered under the Registered Exporter system. Every commercial invoice carries a REX Statement on Origin, which supports zero preferential duty into Germany under the European Union Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus. GSP+ removes duty, not import VAT, which the importer pays at 19 percent.
German Textilkennzeichnung and EU Regulation 1007/2011 require official German fiber names and DIN EN ISO 3758 care symbols. We print and attach labels that match the physical garment and the online catalog.
Each order carries batch traceability for EU General Product Safety Regulation checks, AQL 2.5 inspection, and needle detection on the line before packing.
DDP is not offered as a delivery term, because it would make us the importer of record into the European Union. Shipping by sea runs 24 to 36 days. If your buyer pays by letter of credit or needs origin documents, pair this page with our International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) guide, the German Textilkennzeichnung guide, and the import from the Philippines to Germany guide.
The chamber network is one part of a wider system. Each guide below goes deeper into a part of the German and Philippine trade picture.
AHK Philippinen, the member chamber of the DIHK network in the Philippines, based in Makati City.
InstitutionThe German federal trade and investment agency that works alongside the AHK network.
ComplianceDue diligence duties for German buyers that source apparel from Philippine factories.
LabelingOfficial German fiber names, percentages, and DIN EN ISO 3758 care symbols.
CustomsElectronic declaration, EORI registration, and import turnover tax for German entry.
Trade RulesIncoterms 2020, UCP 600, and the rulebooks that govern a cross border apparel shipment.
Clear answers on what the DIHK is, how it relates to the IHKs and the AHKs, its history and structure, and how it connects to the Philippines.
The DIHK, or Deutsche Industrie und Handelskammer, is the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is the umbrella organization of the 79 Chambers of Commerce and Industry (IHKs) and the body that coordinates the network of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHKs). It represents the shared interests of more than three million companies in Germany.
DIHK stands for Deutsche Industrie und Handelskammer, which is the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in English. The organization was founded as the Deutscher Handelstag in 1861, renamed the Deutscher Industrie und Handelstag (DIHT) in 1918, and took the name Deutscher Industrie und Handelskammertag (DIHK) in 2001. On January 1, 2023 it was transformed from a registered association into a corporation under public law.
An IHK is a Chamber of Commerce and Industry inside Germany. There are 79 of them, and they are regional chambers under public law. An AHK is a German Chamber of Commerce Abroad, a bilateral chamber or delegation outside Germany. The DIHK is the umbrella of the IHKs and the body that coordinates the worldwide AHK network.
The IHK system represents the interests of more than three million companies in Germany across 79 regional chambers. Abroad, the AHK network runs through 150 chambers, delegate offices, and representations in more than 90 countries.
The DIHK is a corporation under public law. Its positions are shaped through a broad participation process: a general assembly where each chamber has one vote, 17 specialized committees with around 1,200 corporate representatives, and more than 160 working groups and networks. A Council for Integrity and Arbitration gives companies and chambers a neutral point of contact for complaints.
The organization began on May 13, 1861, when 91 chambers of commerce and cooperatives founded the Deutscher Handelstag in Heidelberg. It has tracked economic policy ever since, from tariffs and currency to the social market economy and open markets.
The DIHK coordinates the AHK network, and the German Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI), trading as AHK Philippinen, is one of its members. GPCCI joined the AHK network in 2015 and is based in Makati City. AHKs are proportionately funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Yes. RB Advertising manufactures corporate polo shirts, embroidered corporate shirts, event and delegation tees, and trade fair uniforms in the Philippines, with a minimum order of 12 pieces and a 30 day lead time. We are a garment manufacturer and we are not affiliated with the DIHK or GPCCI, so confirm chamber and membership details with those bodies directly.
Tell us the program, the quantity, and the destination. We will return a quotation, a document checklist, and a production timeline for your apparel order.
