ABSTRACT
SEIRIN Cooperation has been exporting disposable acupuncture needles for more than 20 years to European countries, mainly to Germany. Our products are being used in many European countries today. In November 2007, we established a representative office in Munich, Germany, for market research purposes.<BR>Acupuncture treatment has been performed in Germany by medical doctors or "Heilpraktiker"since the early 1970 and is accepted as general medical treatment among many medical doctors and patients. "Heilpraktiker"is a non-medical person, who is allowed to treat patients with traditional and so called natural methods like herbal medicine, acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy and many more, after passing a national exam in Germany. As "Heilpraktiker"has long been a widely accepted profession in Germany, this may be one of the reasons for the good acceptance of acupuncture. <BR>The acupuncture societies are active in both research and clinical practice. One example is the German studies conducted from 2000 until 2006. The purpose of these studies was to scientifically prove the effects of acupuncture and to judge weather the national health insurance should cover the costs for acupuncture treatment. For these studies, 40,000 patients were participated. <BR>This report includes information that we obtained through our activities since we established our representative office. We introduce the German medical insurance system for acupuncture treatment, the major German acupuncture associations and the German license system.