Germany single-use plastics fund for non-EU sellers (Einwegkunststofffonds)

Sell a listed single-use plastic product to buyers in Germany from outside Germany, and you are a producer under the Einwegkunststofffondsgesetz (EWKFondsG). You register on DIVID, the platform of the Umweltbundesamt (UBA), before your first sale. You appoint one representative in Germany. You report the kilograms of the previous year by 15 May, and a levy per kilogram follows. This page is only what Germany adds to the EU single-use plastics directive. The other German rules are on the Germany page.

The duty applies wherever your business sits, including another EU country, as long as it is not Germany (§ 3 No. 3(b) EWKFondsG). It is separate from the packaging register: a LUCID number does not replace DIVID, and DIVID does not replace LUCID (DIVID FAQ).

What is in scope

Germany lists nine product types in Annex 1 of the EWKFondsG. A product made wholly or partly of plastic counts, and Germany sets no minimum plastic content (DIVID FAQ). The list follows the EU directive’s Part E and adds fireworks. The rates are from the EWKFondsV.

Three readings from the UBA’s own FAQ: refuse sacks and breakfast or freezer bags are not carrier bags, and wet wipes made only for professional use, such as medical wipes, are not covered. Since 3 November 2025, a food container, bag or wrapper that holds more than 500 g is presumed not to be for immediate eating, so no levy is owed on it, and the same goes for such a container empty (DIVID FAQ). DIVID offers a free self check for your product. A binding ruling on a product or on whether you are a producer is a request to the UBA under § 22 EWKFondsG. It is charged by the time the UBA spends, whatever the result (DIVID FAQ).

You are the producer when you sell to buyers in Germany from abroad

A business not established in Germany is a producer when it sells listed products professionally, by distance contract, directly to private households or to other users in Germany (§ 3 No. 3(b) EWKFondsG). Handing a product over free of charge counts as making it available (§ 3 No. 4). The packaging law looks at the filled pack; this law looks at the plastic item itself, empty or filled, and bags and wrappers count only when they hold food (DIVID FAQ).

A business that buys the items to use them, such as a cafe buying cups, is an end user too, so selling to it directly makes you the producer (DIVID FAQ). If you sell to a business in Germany that resells your goods, that business is the producer, as a business established in Germany that first makes them available (§ 3 No. 3(a)).

Steps for a seller outside Germany

1. Sign the mandate. Choose one representative established in Germany and sign a written appointment in German before you start. You may appoint only one (§ 10(1) EWKFondsG). The UBA publishes a list of representatives that agreed to be listed. The list is not complete, and the fee of your representative is between you and it (DIVID FAQ).
2. Open a DIVID account. Go to DIVID, choose “I am a producer without an establishment in Germany”, and confirm your e-mail within 24 hours. Every login uses two-factor authentication. The UBA offers the registration form in English too (DIVID FAQ).
3. Register in five steps. Your tax data comes first: a national tax number and a national identification number are both required. You can import your master data from LUCID with your LUCID number and e-mail address. Then list your brand names; a top brand covers its sub-brands, and with no brand you enter your company name. Assign each product a type from the nine. Enter the representative’s number, upload the signed contract, tick the declaration of truth and submit (DIVID manual).
4. Wait for the representative to confirm. The registration notice is sent only after the representative confirms the appointment (DIVID FAQ).
5. Start selling only after the registration notice. You get it by e-mail and in your dashboard. Your name, brands and product types are then published in the public producer register (§ 7(5) EWKFondsG).
6. Name your representative to the UBA. Do it on DIVID at once after the registration notice. The UBA confirms the appointment by notice, and checks the representative more closely if it already has more than 20 appointments. Naming it late or not at all costs up to EUR 10,000 (§ 10(2) and § 26(1) No. 8 EWKFondsG; DIVID manual).

Registration comes before you start, and the duty applies from 1 January 2024. If you were already selling before that date, the levy is owed from 2024 whether or not you were registered (DIVID FAQ). Tell the UBA at once about changes to your data and when you stop selling in Germany (§ 7(1)).

The report is due by 15 May

By 15 May each year you report, on DIVID, the kilograms of each product type you first made available or sold in Germany in the previous calendar year (§ 11(1) EWKFondsG). You do this yourself. Your representative sees the report on DIVID but cannot file it (DIVID FAQ). Until 15 May you can correct what you entered.

The report must be checked and confirmed by a registered expert, auditor, tax adviser or sworn bookkeeper, who signs with a qualified electronic signature. You upload the confirmation and the audit report with the report. The limit for this check changes:

• Until 31 December 2026: the check is waived below 100 kg of listed products in the previous year, or when you placed only deposit bottles.
• From 1 January 2027: the limit is 10,000 kg. It already applies to the report due 15 May 2027 for 2026 (Art. 5 and Art. 8(6) of the law of 13 July 2026, BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 207; DIVID).

Below the limit the UBA can still ask for the check at any time (§ 11(4)).

The levy

The UBA multiplies your reported mass by the rate for each product type and sends the levy notice every year (§ 13(1) EWKFondsG). It goes to your representative, who pays it (DIVID FAQ). For 500 kg of food containers the levy is EUR 88.50 (500 times 0.177). For 100 kg of drink cups it is EUR 123.60.

• Due date. One month after the notice reaches your representative, its addressee (DIVID FAQ), unless the notice names another date (§ 13(3)). The UBA asks for payment before 31 August so that it counts in the payout for the previous year (DIVID FAQ).
• Late payment. More than three working days late, 1 percent of the arrears for each started month, on arrears above EUR 50 (§ 13(4)).
• Objection. An objection to the notice does not suspend payment (§ 13(5)).
• Rates. They are reviewed at least every three years (§ 14(3)).

Fireworks have their own dates

Fireworks are on the list from 2026, with a delayed start (§ 29 EWKFondsG):

• A producer that started before 1 January 2026 registers by 31 December 2026. A producer not established in Germany also appoints its representative by that date.
• The ban on selling unregistered fireworks applies from 1 January 2027.
• The first levy is for calendar year 2027, the first report is due 15 May 2028, and the first levy notice is in 2028.
• The rate is not yet in the regulation. The UBA’s special report calculates EUR 0.691 per kg and says the binding rate will follow by the end of 2026 (DIVID).

What happens if you do nothing

Your listings go first. A producer that is not registered may not make listed products available for the first time, and may not offer them for sale (§ 9(1), (2) EWKFondsG). Marketplaces may not let the products be offered, and fulfilment services may not store, pack, address or ship them. Both duties have applied since 1 January 2025 (§ 9(3), (4)). The public producer register lets marketplaces, competitors and consumers check whether you are on it (DIVID FAQ).

The levy is owed whether or not you registered. If you do not report, the UBA estimates your mass from earlier reports and other data and sets the levy on that (§ 13(2)). The fines are in § 26 EWKFondsG:

The UBA is the fining authority, and goods tied to the offence can be seized (§ 26(3), § 27). The same representative role under packaging rules is in the EPR authorised representative guide, and Germany’s packaging register is on the LUCID page.