Companies that fall under the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act (EWKFondsG) must register with the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) by the end of 2024 and are expected to pay levies for the affected single-use plastic articles from 2025. The DIVID registration platform has been available for this purpose since the beginning of April.

Anyone who wants to know whether their single-use plastic product is subject to the levy can carry out a non-binding and free "self-check" on DIVID. Alternatively, those who prefer binding information can submit a so-called "Designation” for a fee. There are three categories:

Designation producer status

► Anyone who is a producer within the meaning of the EWKFondsG is subject to registration, notification and payment.

Designation single-use plastic product

Here, the UBA checks whether a product is a single-use plastic product, i.e. whether a product

• consists wholly or partly of plastic and

• is not designed, developed and placed on the market in order to pass through several product cycles during its service life by being returned to a producer or distributor for refilling or being reused for the same purpose for which it was manufactured.

► It is not determined here whether a product falls within the scope of the EWKFondsG.

Designation type of single-use plastic product

Here, the UBA determines whether a product falls within the scope of the EWKFondsG (i.e. whether it is one of the products in Annex 1 of the EWKFondsG).

Anyone wishing to determine whether their product is, for example, a flexible bag or film packaging or a plastic food container that falls within the scope of the EWKFondsG would have to submit an designation for a single-use plastic product type. In any case, you should allow for a certain processing time on the part of the UBA and not submit your applications too close to the end of the registration obligation.

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