German Packaging Act

Dear customer, we are currently working on making this website available in english as well. In the first step, we translated the most important elements. If you click on the red info buttons in the calculator you will get descriptions in english. If you have problems with the licensing of your packaging material, please do not hesitate to contact us.

A brief overview of the German Packaging Act

• In Germany, companies that put b2c packaging into commercial circulation for the first time have to pay for its disposal from private end consumers. We are a disposal service provider that organises the disposal for you in Germany. For this purpose you buy disposal licenses.
• A b2c packaging is a product packaging or shipping material that typically accumulates at the end consumer as waste.
• If you ship products from abroad directly to private end consumers in Germany, you have to license the product packaging and the shipping material.
• If you ship b2c products to a retailer in Germany, the German retailer has to license the packaging material.
• In addition to packaging material licensing, you have to register with the Zentrale Stelle. The Zentrale Stelle is a kind of authority and monitors that the Packaging Act is complied with. The Zentrale Stelle maintains a public register in which you have to register, otherwise you are not allowed to sell your goods in Germany. You can register here: http://www.lucid.verpackungsregister.org

Guide to correct licensing, registration and quantity reporting

1. enter in our calculator the amount of packaging material you plan to put into circulation next year or this year in Germany. Follow the licensing process to the end. In the second step you enter company data and in the third step your payment method. Make sure that you confirm the conclusion of your licensing contract after you have entered your payment details.
2. Visit the website of the Zentrale Stelle and register your company and own brands. You can change the website to English in the menu bar at the top right.
3. report to the Zentrale Stelle in the online portal LUCID which quantities of packaging you have licensed with us.
4. If you find out that you have licensed too less packaging material, you can simply buy additional licenses in our online portal.
5. At the end of the year, you must submit an end-of-year report to us and the Zentrale Stelle. Calculate together how much packaging material you have put into circulation in Germany. Compare this quantity with the quantity you have licensed with us. If you find that you have put more into circulation than you have licensed, you can now buy licenses for that year for the last time.

If you have any further questions, please contact us at: kundenservice@zmart24.de.