How to Comply With the German Packaging Act

The Act on the Placing on the Market, Taking Back, and the High-Quality Use of Packaging (Packaging Act) obliges retailers and manufacturers to comply with their extended producer responsibility under waste legislation. The Act requires them to limit the impacts of packaging waste on the environment and conserve natural resources.

If you ship packaged products to consumers in Germany, you must do the following to comply with the German Packaging Act:

• License your yearly packaging quantities with a dual system (known as system participation). Our partner Lizenzero is on hand to help you: Report quantities now.
• Register with the Central Agency Packaging Register in the LUCID register. This is also how you get your LUCID registration number.
• Regularly report your licensed quantities and the name of the dual system you have chosen to the LUCID packaging register.

The extended producer responsibility requirements apply to anyone who fills a package with goods and places it on the market for the first time for commercial purposes. Examples include manufacturers, trading companies, importers, mail-order companies, and online retailers.

All retailers, whether located in Germany or abroad, must comply with the Packaging Act if they sell items to consumers in Germany. This means that if you send packaged goods to Germany, you must comply with the German Packaging Act.

You must do the following to send goods to Germany:

• License your packaging with a dual system in Germany.
• Register with the public packaging register LUCID.
• Report licensed quantities and your chosen dual system to LUCID.
• Upload your certificate with your LUCID number to your dealer account.

We’ve paired up with Lizenzero to offer you a simple way to digitally license your packaging with the dual system Interzero. You will receive a 10% discount* off the licensing fee. This discount is valid for both new and existing Lizenzero customers.**

You are also welcome to license your packaging with any other German dual system. Even if you don’t opt to use Lizenzero, you can still find answers to a lot of questions on their website.

Here’s how you prove compliance: Upload a certificate that shows you are licensed with a dual system to your dealer account. You can retrieve this document from your account with the relevant system provider. It can have different names depending on the provider, e.g., licensing certificate, participation certificate, or system participation certificate.

Are you licensed with Lizenzero? Simply provide us with your Lizenzero Participation Certificate. You can find this document in your Lizenzero customer account. It also contains your LUCID registration number.

Are you licensed with another system provider? If your licensing certificate contains your LUCID registration number, this is the only document we need. You have proved you are in compliance. If your certificate does not contain your LUCID registration number, please upload a second document with this number. You can download this document from your LUCID account under “Documents.”

*Offer valid until 12/31/2024. Discount taken from the net value of goods or services. No payout available. One discount redeemable per order and customer. Cannot be combined with other offers or discounts. Retroactive redemption is excluded. No recourse to legal action.

**Existing Lizenzero customers can avail of the offer once for their scheduled quantity report or for their updated quantity reports throughout the year. The discount can be redeemed in the final step of the order (order overview).