In March 1938, a fundamentalre-organisation of technical inspections occurred in Germany. The 37 facilitiesthat existed to date in the Reich were transformed into 14 regional monitoringassociations that were collectively named TÜV (Technische Überwachungsvereine:technical inspection associations).
A unifying charter replaced theindividual statutes. For companies with facilities requiring inspection,membership in the respective TÜV organisation was made mandatory.
This modernised and standardised thetechnical inspection system nationwide. However, the price for doingso was high. The associations lost their independence and thus one oftheir key values.