The German law tries to prevent this several ways:
- charging individually for sales is prohibited by §25(2) and §24; the only allowed thing is to have consumption-dependent but standardized ("Pauschale") membership costs. (This is, honestly, worded a bit weird and might need a lawyer to interpret "properly".) [Edit: this got changed in the final version — and is now more restrictive, only membership fees are allowed.]
- you are only permitted to be a member of one association, §16(2)
- associations are only permitted to have 500 members, §16(2)
- there is a minimum membership duration of 3 months, §16(5)
The biggest hurdle for clubs will be that they need dedicated property that fulfills the necessary security requirements. Running a club partly or wholly from a private residence is explicitly forbidden.
- charging individually for sales is prohibited by §25(2) and §24; the only allowed thing is to have consumption-dependent but standardized ("Pauschale") membership costs. (This is, honestly, worded a bit weird and might need a lawyer to interpret "properly".) [Edit: this got changed in the final version — and is now more restrictive, only membership fees are allowed.]
- you are only permitted to be a member of one association, §16(2)
- associations are only permitted to have 500 members, §16(2)
- there is a minimum membership duration of 3 months, §16(5)