The German Packaging Act – what’s particularly important for online retailers

If you, as an online retailer, sell packaged goods via your online store or otherwise put them into circulation, you are considered a distributor. As such, you are obliged to register the sales and secondary packaging with a dual system such as Der Grüne Punkt (sometimes also referred to as “licensing”). In return, this system ensures that the packaging is collected and recycled after use. You can fulfill this “obligation to participate in the system” by registering with Der Grüne Punkt, for example.

As a retailer or manufacturer in terms of the act, you must also register with the “Central Agency Packaging Register” – before you send out packaged goods for the first time. This is because you are not allowed to put packaging that has not been properly registered into circulation. The registration obligation applies to large corporations as well as retailers. You can apply for the necessary registration number at www.verpackungsregister.org. Without packaging licensing, there is a risk of warnings and fines.

You also enter the new registration number with the dual system to which you register your packaging. The “system participation” takes place under this registration number. You have not yet registered your packaging? Then use the registration with Der Grüne Punkt, for example. With VerpackGO, you can carry out packaging licensing quickly and online.

Almost all the information you have provided as part of your participation in the system must be sent directly to the Central Agency by you – at the very least:

• Name, address and contact details of the manufacturer
• Details of a natural person authorized to represent the company
• National identification number of the manufacturer, including the European or national tax number of the manufacturer
• Brand names under which the manufacturer places its packaging subject to system participation on the market
• Declaration that the manufacturer fulfills its take-back obligations by participating in one or more systems or through one or more sectoral solutions
• Declaration that the information provided is true

Note: You must make the entry in the LUCID Packaging Register yourself. This is because no third parties may be commissioned to register you in accordance with section 9 VerpackG or to submit data reports in accordance with section 10 VerpackG (see section 33 VerpackG)!

Now you're almost there. Whether you as a manufacturer are obliged to submit a declaration of completeness to the Central Agency (Section 11 (4) VerpackG) depends on the quantities of packaging you put into circulation. You are exempt from this obligation if you have placed less than 80 tons of glass packaging subject to mandatory participation, 50 tons of paper, cardboard or paperboard and less than 30 tons of another material on the market. Most companies or online retailers are therefore not required to submit a declaration of completeness. However, the Central Agency has the right to demand the submission of a declaration of completeness even if the threshold values are not reached.

However, there are also the following regulations that you must keep in mind:

• The deadline for submitting your declaration of completeness is May 15.
• Only registered experts, auditors, tax consultants or sworn accountants may check your declaration of completeness.
• Quantity deductions due to damaged or unsaleable packaged goods that have not reached the end consumer are only possible if both the return for each individual case is documented in a verifiable form and the supply for recycling in accordance with the recycling requirements.

The most important aim of the German Packaging Act (VerpackG) is to avoid or reduce the impact of packaging waste on the environment. This is to be achieved by avoiding, reusing and recycling packaging waste.

The Packaging Act also requires manufacturers and (online) retailers to promote the use of environmentally friendly and recyclable packaging.

The Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR) has the task of ensuring a transparent and fair distribution of the costs of the disposal and recycling system in accordance with the VerpackG. In this context, the ZSVR takes on the task of registering those responsible for products and thus making them public and ensuring transparency and legal clarity through other tasks (e.g. data reporting). The ZSVR monitors other ecological targets, such as the fulfillment of recycling quotas and the financial promotion of more sustainable packaging. The German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) is responsible for technical and legal supervision.

Further information on the structures of the authority can be found directly on the website of the Central Agency Packaging Register Foundation.

All the threads come together at the ZSVR, as it checks compliance with obligations on the part of both online retailers and dual systems. It is a foundation under civil law and is responsible for the following tasks, among others:

• Registration of manufacturers before placing on the market
• Receiving data reports from manufacturers and systems
• Filing declarations of completeness
• Maintaining a register of inspectors (experts, auditors, tax consultants, sworn auditors)
• The Central Agency therefore collects and manages the registration data of the manufacturers and the data on quantities and types of packaging as well as the volume flow certificates that it receives from the systems.

Further information on the ZSVR can be found on the website www.verpackungsregister.org.

LUCID is the packaging register in which manufacturers and retailers, such as online retailers, must register the packaging they place on the German market. Retailers and manufacturers must be registered with the ZSVR in the LUCID packaging register. Each company or manufacturer must register once with the Central Agency in the LUCID Packaging Register.

Sustainability will pay off even more in future, and not just for the environment: the German Packaging Act encourages the dual systems to promote packaging that is particularly easy to recycle or is made from recyclates or renewable raw materials. This means that in the medium term, the calculation of participation fees should be based on ecological criteria.

Manufacturers and retailers also have a social responsibility and should also help to conserve finite resources by using sustainable packaging and recycling. The systems help with this! Many secondary and sales packaging can already be designed to meet these criteria. Der Grüne Punkt will be happy to support you with the recycling-friendly design, product development and optimization of your packaging or advise you on the use of high-quality recyclates.