WEEE registration in Germany for non-EU sellers (stiftung ear, ElektroG)

You cannot register for WEEE in Germany yourself. A business with no branch in Germany mandates one authorised representative there. The representative registers each brand and equipment type with stiftung ear and receives a registration number, the WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE. Until that registration is issued you may not place electrical or electronic equipment on the German market. This page is only what Germany adds to the EU WEEE rule. The other German rules are on the Germany page.

Your representative registers in its own name

The representative must be a person or company established in Germany. It takes over all your producer duties in its own name (§ 3 No. 10 ElektroG). Four points set the shape of the mandate (§ 8 ElektroG):

• One representative only, for all your brands and equipment types.
• The mandate is in writing and in German, and runs for at least three months. stiftung ear publishes a template that both parties sign.
• You name the representative to the authority with a copy of the mandate. The authority must confirm it before the registration can be processed.
• It applies wherever your business sits. A seller from another EU country needs one as much as a seller from the United States or the United Kingdom.

A German subsidiary is not a branch, so it does not remove the duty. It can, though, be your representative. stiftung ear publishes a list of representatives it has admitted, and the list is not final (stiftung ear). A representative holding more than 20 registrations at once needs its own admission from the authority (§ 37(7) ElektroG).

To change the representative, the old mandate has to end first. The old representative reports the end in the ear-Portal, and only then can the new mandate be confirmed. Once the end is notified, the authority can revoke the registrations (§ 37(5) ElektroG).

The registration, in order

1. Sign the written mandate in German with your representative.
2. Your representative works in the ear-Portal of stiftung ear and gets the mandate confirmed. The registration application can be processed only after that.
3. The representative applies for one registration per brand and equipment type. The brand does not have to be a registered trademark, and your company name will do. “No brand”, a product description or the registration number as the brand are rejected (stiftung ear).
4. The application carries the guarantee, or the evidence for equipment that is not for households. Both are below (§ 6(1) ElektroG).
5. stiftung ear processes applications in the order they arrive. A complete application normally takes three to four weeks.
6. The registration order names you as the represented producer and gives the WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE. Put it on every offer and every invoice, and give it to every marketplace and fulfilment service you use.

The application states, among other things, your name and contact details, your national identification code with a European or national tax number, the brand, whether the equipment is for households, how you cover the guarantee, and the other EU countries you sell into by distance, with the representative named in each (Annex 2 ElektroG).

The guarantee decides how fast you register

Equipment that can be used in private households needs an insolvency-safe guarantee, proved with the application and again every calendar year. It can be a surety or guarantee on first demand from a bank or credit insurer, a deposit of money at a court, or membership of a guarantee system the authority has found suitable (§ 7(1), (2) ElektroG). The registration is issued only once the guarantee is shown (§ 37(1) ElektroG). The amount comes from the guarantee calculator on stiftung ear’s site, per equipment type and year (stiftung ear).

Equipment used only, or usually, outside households needs no guarantee. You show instead that it is not used in households, and you file a take-back concept saying how you take old equipment back from customers (§ 7(3) and § 7a ElektroG).

What it costs in Germany

These are the fees stiftung ear charges, net of VAT, from the official fee schedule (ElektroGBattDGGebV). The fee for your representative’s own service is set between the two of you and is not in the schedule.

One producer, one representative, one brand and one household equipment type, with the guarantee through a collective system, pays EUR 60.10 once (9.50 and 50.60) and EUR 135.00 a year (4 times 32.80, plus 3.80). The price of the guarantee itself is paid to its provider and is on top.

If the normal fee would be out of proportion, weighing your volume, the value of the registration to you, the expected disposal cost and the waste relevance, the registration fee and the checks can be reduced or waived on application. The application covers all four and has to reach stiftung ear within three months of the fee notice (§ 2 GebV).

Deadlines start before the first sale

• Before the first sale. Registration comes before any equipment is placed on the German market, whatever the volume (§ 6(1) ElektroG). Handing equipment over free of charge counts as placing on the market.
• Every month. Your representative reports what you placed on the market, by weight and equipment type, by the 15th of the next month, unless stiftung ear has agreed another period with you. A month with no sales is reported as zero. The quantities that need a guarantee are shown separately. If none of your equipment needs a guarantee, the report is yearly, by 30 April (§ 27 ElektroG).
• Every year. The guarantee is proved again each calendar year, and take-back and treatment quantities are reported by 30 April of the next year.
• Without delay. Changes to the registration data, and the end of your sales in Germany, are reported at once (§ 6(1) ElektroG).

A German registration is valid in Germany only. Each other EU country you sell into needs its own (stiftung ear). Marking the equipment with the crossed-out bin is in the WEEE symbol guide.

What happens if you do nothing

Before any fine, your listings go. If you or your representative are not properly registered, a distributor may not offer your equipment, a marketplace may not let it be offered, and a fulfilment service may not store, pack, address or ship it (§ 6(2) ElektroG). A distributor that intentionally or negligently offers your new equipment in Germany while you are unregistered also counts as a producer, so distributors check your number (§ 3 No. 9 ElektroG).

The fines are set in § 45 ElektroG:

The Umweltbundesamt imposes the fines in the first seven rows except the marking row, and for missed quantity reports (§ 45(3) ElektroG). Germany forbids showing the disposal cost to the end customer (§ 7(4) ElektroG).

The same representative role under the packaging and battery rules is in the EPR authorised representative. Batteries inside your equipment need their own registration: see the EU Battery Regulation.