The Germans also require that your first aid kit includes rubber gloves, as older kits from pre-AIDS days may not. Another consideration is that many items may be past their shelf life, and should be replaced as a matter of course. The kit on my BMW motorcycle would be 45 years old if nothng had been replaced - hardly fit for life saving! Those with a fetish for originality should leave the original kit sealed up, and simply replace it - they ae cheap enough when you consider they may be used to save YOUR life . . . Of course, the Little Englanders probably see beam converters, fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and warning triangles as being unwanted requirements of the European Evil Empire! Perhaps they would prefer to bleed to death by the roadside as a sign of freedom!