TÜV

TÜVs (German pronunciation: [ˈtʏf] ^ⓘ; short for German: Technischer Überwachungsverein, English: Technical Inspection Association) are internationally active, independent service companies from Germany and Austria that test, inspect and certify technical systems, facilities and objects of all kinds in order to minimize hazards and prevent damages. The TÜV companies are organized into three large holding companies, TÜV Nord, TÜV Rheinland and TÜV SÜD (with TÜV Hessen), along with the smaller independent companies TÜV Thüringen, TÜV Saarland and TÜV Austria.

With the increasing number and efficiency of steam engines during the Industrial Revolution, there had been more and more accidents caused by exploding (or more precisely, bursting) boilers. After the explosion of the boiler at the Mannheim Aktienbrauerei in January 1865, the idea was pursued there to subject boilers to regular inspections on a voluntary basis, as was already the case in Great Britain. Twenty boiler owners in Baden joined in the plans and finally founded the Gesellschaft zur Überwachung und Versicherung von Dampfkesseln ("Society for the Supervision and Insurance of Steam Boilers") on 6 January 1866 in the rooms of the Mannheim Stock Exchange. It was the first inspection society on the European mainland. Other German states and regions followed suit.

These independent regional monitoring organizations in the form of associations were so successful in accident prevention that, from 1871, membership in such an association exempted them from inspection by a state inspector. The regional Dampfkessel-Überwachungs- und Revisions-Vereine (DÜV), as self-help organizations of steam boiler operators, were thus an early example of a very successful privatization of previously state inspections. Because they were so successful in preventing accidents in the rapidly developing field of steam boiler technology, they were later also entrusted with safety inspections in other technical fields, including the periodic testing of motor vehicles as well as driver's license testing.

All TÜV groups that emerged from these common roots use the "TÜV" brand and a regional suffix (for example, TÜV SÜD, TÜV Rheinland, TÜV Nord, TÜV Saarland, TÜV Thüringen, TÜV Austria) in their names. They compete with each other and with other market players in some areas (see above).

The individual TÜVs became multinational corporations with time, and came to provide services to industry, governments, individuals, and non-profit groups. During the 1980s and 1990s, deregulation led to competition in the German inspection and certification industry, and further deregulation occurred at the end of 2007.

In 2007, TÜV Nord and TÜV SÜD agreed to merge, which would have created a company with 18,000 employees and sales of around 1.8 billion euros; however the companies called off the merger that same year, citing potential difficulties with integration as well as restrictions that would have been required under antitrust law. In 2008, TÜV SÜD and TÜV Rheinland agreed to merge which would have created the second largest testing services company in the world, behind SGS S.A.; the combined company would have had around 25,000 employees and 2.2 billion euros in income. These plans were abandoned by August again due to antitrust concerns. TÜV Nord had more than 11,000 employees stationed globally as of 2020.

All TÜVs perform sovereign tasks in the fields of vehicle monitoring, driver licensing and equipment and product safety. In addition, TÜVs function as notified bodies in Europe for medical device regulation.

Every company that uses the word "TÜV" in its name is at least 25.1% owned by a "Technischer Überwachungs-Verein e. V." (Technical Inspection Association), which is a non-governmental organization of the German business community and has been entrusted by the state with the specified sovereign tasks ("TÜV Convention").