Germany packaging EPR for B2B suppliers: a scoping guide

The Verpackungsrecht-Durchführungsgesetz (VerpackDG) was published in the Federal Law Gazette on 17 July 2026 (BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 207) and has applied since 12 August 2026, when the old Packaging Act (VerpackG) ceased to have effect. It implements the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, so its "Hersteller" is the producer defined in Article 3(1), point (15) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40. That is the company responsible for EPR in Germany, which isn't always the company that signs the EU declaration of conformity.

The first company in the German supply chain is the producer. A company established outside Germany is the producer only when it delivers directly to an end user in Germany. The Regulation's end user includes a business that uses the product in its own operations and doesn't resell it. The ZSVR's guidance calls this domestic precedence.

Take a fictional manufacturer, Tarnwick, established in Ireland. Pallets of its degreaser sold to a German distributor for resale make the distributor the German producer. 200 L drums delivered straight to German factories that use the degreaser make Tarnwick the producer for those drums. List each stream like this: the packaging, the legal entity that delivers it, the German recipient and whether that recipient resells or uses the goods.

Registration and system participation are separate tests. Under § 6, every producer registers with the ZSVR before first making packaging available in Germany, with no exemption for transport or industrial packaging. The entry includes the company's details, its brand names and its packaging split into system-participation packaging, the non-system categories in § 39(1) and deposit packaging. Registration is the producer's own duty and can't be delegated (§ 5(1)). A producer without a German establishment must also appoint an authorised representative (Bevollmächtigter) for its other VerpackDG duties, by written mandate in German (§ 5(2) to (6)).

Producers registered under the old Act count as registered, but must make any changes by 12 November 2026 (§ 68(2)). Producers newly obliged to register had until 12 September 2026. An unregistered or wrongly registered producer may not make packaging available in Germany, and distributors may not sell its packaging (§ 13(1) and (3)).

System participation applies only to system-participation packaging (§ 7(1)). Section 3(6) defines it as sales, grouped, primary production and transport packaging that, across the whole market for that type of packaging, typically ends up as waste mainly in private households or comparable places, plus service packaging. Comparable places include hotels, restaurants, offices, hospitals and schools, and farms and craft businesses using household-sized bins (§ 3(7)). The ZSVR publishes a catalogue for the whole-market test, and it doesn't look at a supplier's own customer list. Its guidance says packaging used to ship goods by parcel always needs system participation, even when sent to industrial customers. Transport by a haulier doesn't. Any system contract made under the old Act ends on 31 December 2026 at the latest (§ 68(1)).

For non-system packaging, § 39(3) requires a verifiable record by 15 May each year. It covers the packaging made available in Germany in the previous calendar year, and the packaging taken back and recovered, by material type and mass. The producer needs self-checks for accuracy, and shows the record to the authority of its federal state on request. This record can't be handed to an organisation (§ 39(6)). Producers meeting their duties individually also run packaging prevention measures and document them by 31 March each year for the previous year (§ 59). They also sign a financing agreement with the ZSVR and pay a levy, unless an approved organisation carries all their packaging (§ 51).

The declaration of completeness (Vollständigkeitserklärung) belongs to producers of system-participation packaging (§ 10(1)). It is due by 15 May each year, checked by a registered expert and filed with the ZSVR. A producer is exempt if its system-participation packaging in the previous year was below 80 tonnes of glass, 50 tonnes of paper and board, and 30 tonnes of other materials (§ 10(4)), though the ZSVR or the authority can still ask for one. Once a producer must file, the declaration also covers some of its non-system packaging (§ 10(2)).

2026 is a transition year. Under § 68(5), only the new § 10 applies to packaging made available in 2026. The ZSVR says the single 2026 declaration follows the new law's form and the old law's content. For years up to 2026, that content covers all sales and grouped packaging, including packaging that ends up at industrial sites. The 2026 declaration is due by 15 May 2027.

Under § 39(1), the producer and each later distributor must take back, free of charge, used packaging of the same type, shape and size as they supplied, at or near the place of handover. This covers non-system transport, sales, grouped and primary production packaging, packaging that can't go into a system, sales packaging of the hazardous contents listed in Annex 1, and reusable packaging. Businesses can agree a different return point and cost split with each other, and with recurring deliveries the packaging can go back on a later delivery.

Packaging taken back goes to reuse or recovery, with preparation for reuse and recycling first, or back to the previous distributor (§ 39(3)). The producer must keep the money and organisation to do this (§ 39(4)). Keep the evidence that ties it together: the take-back terms in customer contracts, collection records by material and mass, and recovery certificates.

From 1 January 2028, a producer of non-system packaging needs ZSVR approval to keep supplying (§ 19(1) and § 13(2)). Until 31 December 2027 it may supply without one (§ 68(9)). The alternative is to transfer all its producer responsibility to one or more approved organisations under § 22. The ZSVR says producers can apply from autumn 2027, and that approval carries a fee.

A dated list for a B2B producer in Germany, as the law stood on 14 October 2026:

By 12 November 2026, update an existing LUCID registration, including brand names and packaging categories. By 31 December 2026, replace any system contract made under the old Act. From 12 February 2027, breaches of the PPWR itself can be fined under the VerpackDG (§ 68(17)).

By 31 March each year, document prevention measures if you meet your duties individually. By 15 May each year, complete the § 39 take-back record and file any declaration of completeness, starting with 2026 on 15 May 2027. By 31 December 2027, hold ZSVR approval or have transferred all non-system packaging to an approved organisation.

Review the list each quarter, and when the ZSVR updates its catalogue or guidance. The EU-wide producer registers in Article 44 of the PPWR will follow a Commission implementing act, which was still a draft on 14 October 2026. When it is adopted, expect German registration and reporting to change again.