I have a question about Hazet Tools, and the country of origin of their 3/8 drive metric sockets. I assumed that all Hazet tools were made in Germany, unless otherwise stated. But then I discovered something by accident. I sent Hazet a total of 17 email asking for an honest answer as to whether their sockets were 100% made in Germany. Hazet never answered one of those email. I don't not believe that it is because no one at Hazet could read or write English. Hazet is a major tool manufacturer in the world and they probably have employees that can speak several of the world's major languages.

Anyway, here is the issue: A friend of mine who is an engineer saw the Hazet sockets and told me that they looked like they were made in Taiwan. So, we compared the Hazet with some Taiwan sockets and both share several identical features: Both are made from Vanadium, both have the same brushed chrome finish, but the more telling features are that both have the same exact size and shape of the knurled lines on the sides, both have the same exact font, and looking even closer the broach lead looks identical too. Knowing about patent laws and how companies must be very careful not to violate such laws, especially in today's Global market, I got curious about this looked into several issues:

First of all, the Hazet sockets that are exported the USA are labeled with English letters and spell the word "Germany." There is also no labels on the sockets that say, "Made in Germany." The odd thing about that is that the Germans refer to Germany as Deutschland, so why would they put the word Germany on the socket? Q: I wonder how would Hazet tools sold in Germany for Germans be labeled ? But this is still not the main issue.

The more significant issue is that German importing and exporting laws are not the same as US law is on the subject. In the US the product must be "all or virtually all" made in the US in order to legally be labeled as such, regardless if the product will be exported. So, I called the German consulate and asked them this question and they looked into it for me and I discovered that the German people are having the same outsourcing problems as we are having, i.e., crappy tools being imported from various other countries. They told me that German law allows a German based tool manufacturer to label their tool with the single word "Germany." if their tool was made in another country. So, this means it was only designed for, or purchased by the German company and then imported back into Germany; but it cannot say "Made in Germany" unless it was 100% made in Germany. So, having the single word Germany on a tool only means that the company is based in Germany and nothing more. Now if a quality tool was truly made in Germany, just as if a quality tool is made in the USA, then why wouldn't the tool mfr want to put that label-words on their tool? It would certainly be in their interest to do this, as Germany has long been known to mfr products of very high quality, as well as other European countries.

It is very deceptive and misleading to label a brand name product with the word Germany, when the company is a well known German based company, and sell that product at a premium price ($170-$400), if the product was not made in Germany, because the consumer would be trusting the label and should not be expected to have to be versed in the loopholes or technicalities of German Laws. .

But I can say one thing favorable about Hazet, I know that Hazet does manufacture many tools in Germany for Germans and for export [not sure where the steel comes from now, due to all the problems with the steel industry worldwide]. But I dont know which ones are and which ones are not. I think Hazet needs to stop stonewalling people with legitimate product questions.

So, considering what our comparison revealed, patent laws, what the German consulate told me, and also that Hazet ignored 17 of my emails, I am very suspicious about those sockets. That is why I hope that someone in Germany or Europe that is very knowledgeable about this issue might just read this and let me know the truth. Why ask here on the Brick? Well, I know that sometimes people from Europe have posted here. Perhaps there may be a much better website to ask this question, so this is just a starting point.

Thanks to anyone taking the time to read this issue.