Packaging law obligations of mail order companies and online retailers

Whether you are shipping your goods in new packaging or in used packaging such as collected cartons, old newspapers or cardboard boxes you have received: you have to be registered with the LUCID Packaging Register.

In addition, used packaging is subject to system participation – unless whoever used the packaging before you has already participated the packaging with a system. If you are using packaging that has already been participated with a system, you need to provide evidence of that system participation to the competent authorities. If you cannot prove that the packaging has already been participated with a system, you yourself need to conclude a system participation agreement.

Heads-up: If you add packaging components such as address labels, tape or filler material, you need to participate those components with a system in any case.

Like fulfilment service providers, electronic marketplaces are required by law to verify if you are fulfilling your packaging law obligations. This means that the marketplace operator will ask you if you have registered with the LUCID Packaging Register and if you have concluded a system participation agreement with a system operator.

Heads-up: The marketplace can check your registration status in the public register of producers. This means that they can see if you have registered and which packaging types you have registered.

Importers of packaged goods into Germany may also have obligations under the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act) to fulfil with regard to either the packaging of the goods themselves or the packaging that is used to ship or deliver to goods.

The answer to whether you or your foreign supplier are responsible for the packaged goods you imported into Germany depends on your specific situation and the agreements in place. It all depends on who is legally responsible for the goods at the time they cross the border. For more information, please visit our knowledge base dedicated to imports.

The rule for retail packaging is simple: register, participate, report.

It is usually the manufacturer of the goods who is responsible for the retail packaging. This can either be you or the company you are sourcing your products from. If you are importing your goods from abroad, you have obligations under German packaging law to fulfil if you are legally responsible for the goods at the time they cross the border.

Heads-up: The definition of 'shipment packaging' includes all packaging components you may add to ship your goods to a customer, for example labels or tape. This means that you have to pay for the recycling of those components, too.

A level playing field is key if we want to protect our environment. Companies must ensure that their packaging harms the environment as little as possible. This is referred to as assuming 'producer responsibility', which governed by the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act). Where packaging cannot be prevented, all market players that distribute packaged goods must be registered with the LUCID Packaging Register. Another factor is that 'high-quality' recycling of packaging waste is only possible in a financially sound market. That is why you are required to pay for the recycling of your retail, grouped or shipment packaging that is subject to system participation by concluding a 'system participation agreement' with a system operator.