Your business sits outside Germany
Registered anywhere else — the US, the UK, France, Turkey, wherever your paperwork lives.
Germany wants to know how much packaging you send. Now you've got someone who handles that.
If you post orders to German customers from abroad, the law now wants a named person here to carry your packaging obligations. I do that for small shops — at small-shop prices, not agency ones. Because sending twelve parcels a year shouldn't cost you what sending twelve thousand does.
Not sure it applies to you? Check in 30 seconds ↓
12Aug2026
Since this date, you must have a named person in Germany.
What exactly changed →If your business sits outside Germany and you send packaged goods to German customers, the law requires you to appoint someone here to carry your packaging obligations.
It isn't a recommendation, and there's no minimum size — the duty starts at your first parcel, whether you send twelve a year or twelve thousand. Once someone is appointed, the handling moves to them: the system participation, the quantity reports, the annual closing report and the correspondence with the operator and the register. You stay the producer, so your figures are still needed once a year.
Does this actually apply to you?
Three things have to be true at the same time. If even one of them isn't, you can close this tab with a clear conscience.
You post to German customers yourself
Direct to the person who ordered. Selling through a German wholesaler or importer usually puts the duty on them instead.
You have no branch in Germany
No office, no subsidiary, no warehouse of your own. A fulfilment centre you rent doesn't count as one.
All three true? Then you need a representative.
There's no small-seller exemption and no minimum quantity — the duty starts at your first parcel, whether you send twelve a year or twelve thousand. What you pay does scale: the fee follows your parcel numbers, the recycling charge follows weight and material. The appointment form takes about five minutes.
What it costs
Two things go on the bill: my fee, which follows how many parcels you send, and the recycling charge, which follows the weight of your packaging. Nothing else.
Two ways to work this out. Switch between them any time — nothing you enter is lost.
Which licence year?
Pick the year your parcels go to Germany. 2026 is the year running now; choose 2027 if you are starting in January.
parcels
Type your number, or drag the slider
How big is a typical parcel?
What does a typical parcel consist of?
What do you send it in?
What do you pad it with?
What do you seal it with?
Ordinary packing tape is plastic, which is why a little plastic shows up even when you pack in paper. A label counts as paper either way. Use a mix? Pick whatever you use most.
Put an empty parcel on the kitchen scales — box, filler, tape, label, nothing you're selling — and split the weight by material.
Enter your weights as
German Packaging fee
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Recycling Minimum €14.95 a year
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Where the recycling charge comes from
Everything, per year
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Per parcel, all infee and recycling together — this is what to build into your prices
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Appoint me as your representative
How the appointment works
Three formalities to set it up, then it runs. None of them costs you more than a few minutes.
Setting up
1
We put the appointment in writing. German law requires a written contract in German, signed by both of us with a qualified electronic signature. I send an English reading copy alongside, so you know exactly what you are agreeing to before anything is due.
2
You add my representative ID to your register entry. Every authorised representative has an ID issued by the packaging register. Entering mine in your entry is what tells the authority that I act for you.
3
I confirm it and the authority approves it. From that point the obligations sit with me, and you'll have it in writing.
Already registered in LUCID?then step 2 takes two minutes
Many sellers shipping to Germany already are — the register has applied to distance sellers for years. If you have an entry, you're simply adding my ID to it.
Not registered yet?free, about ten minutes
You register first. It's free, and I send a guide with screenshots. The law reserves this one step for the producer personally — no representative, agency or lawyer may do it for you, and anyone who offers is mistaken.
What I do from then on
- Find you the right recycling system. There are around ten licensed operators. They're obliged to provide the same service, but their prices and minimum charges differ — I compare them and can place different customers with different operators depending on what suits their materials and volume.
- Select the right system operator and settle the system participation from your materials and quantities.
- Turn your figures into the kilograms the law wants and check they look right before anything is filed.
- File the reports — to the recycling system and to the register, matching, as the law requires.
- Watch both annual deadlines so that you never have to.
- Deal with the register authority when they have questions about your account.
After setup, your year looks like thispayment, confirmations, help
Payment runs on its own. Your card stays on file, the annual amount and any spring adjustment are taken automatically, and you get an email before anything is charged.
You confirm what you shipped. Twice a year I send you the figures I've worked out. You check them and click confirm, or correct them if your year went differently. That's the only thing I need from you.
You get help doing it. A short video and a one-page PDF walk you through the confirmation and, if you still need to register, through the register itself — screen by screen, in English.
Am I tied into a contract with a dual system?no contract with a dual system
I only buy the quantity for your calendar year. Nothing renews, and there is nothing for you to cancel with the system. My own notice period is three months to the end of the year, because from October I already report for the following year. If something changes, write to me.
Can I reach you in between?yes, by email, any time
Twice a year I'll need a confirmation from you, and I'll write when something is done. Beyond that, email me whenever something comes up — a change of address, a new brand name, a marketplace asking for proof, or just a question you'd rather ask a person than a help page. You won't be passed to anyone else.
Are you the authority?no — a private service
The register is run by the Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister, a public body. German Packaging is a private service with no connection to it. I'm the person you appoint to deal with them on your behalf, and I carry your obligations in my own name once the appointment is confirmed.
Before you sign up
Two things people often ask about: more countries, and the years in which you were not registered.
One representative, more countries. Right now I cover Germany. France, Italy and Spain are next — the idea is that you deal with one person rather than one per country. Tell me which markets matter to you and I'll factor that in.
If you've been shipping for years and were never registered
Sign up through the form as usual and tell me since when you have been shipping. The obligation isn't new; it has applied to sellers abroad for years, and as your representative I cannot take on periods before my appointment. Be prepared for this to cost a fair amount to put right, and possibly more than a year's fee. I'll tell you honestly what I think it involves, and if I'm not the right person I'll say so.
Not sure whether this fits you? Ask me before you pay — it takes one email and costs nothing.
Why I started this
I came from marketing & wanted to sell handmade things myself.
I've been self-employed for more than 14 years: marketing for small businesses, writing books, making crystal art by hand. I wanted to turn that into a small shop of my own, and while setting it up I ran into German packaging law. So I know what the week actually looks like: you're glazing, packing, photographing, answering messages. Nobody has an afternoon spare for a foreign register in a language they don't read.
So I chose differently. Nothing drives me like something that has no solution yet, and the services that existed were built for companies with a compliance department and priced accordingly. More than 340 sellers worldwide now have me as their authorised representative, from ten parcels a year to several thousand. You keep making things, I'll keep the German paperwork off your desk.
Everything runs by email. No calls to schedule, no hold music, no account manager to chase. You get a link, you click, it's done — and when something genuinely needs a human, that human is me.
Questions people actually ask
If yours isn't here, write to me and I'll add it.
Do I need an authorised representative in Germany?
If your business is based outside Germany, has no branch there, and you ship packaged goods directly to German consumers — yes, from 12 August 2026. There's no exemption for small volumes, and you may only appoint one representative.
Is the fee based on what I sell?
No. It's based on the weight of the packaging you send out — the box, the tape, the tissue paper, the label. The product inside doesn't count, and neither does your turnover. A heavy vase in a light box costs less than a light T-shirt in a thick plastic mailer.
What is LUCID?
Germany's official packaging register, run by the Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR). Registration is free. You must do it yourself: it's a personal duty that can't be delegated, and so are any later changes to your entry.
Can you register in LUCID for me?
No — and nobody else can either, whatever they advertise. What I can do is everything that follows: the recycling contract, the weight reports, the corrections, the deadlines. Your ten minutes buys you a year of not thinking about it.
Why does the contract have to be in German?
German law requires a written appointment in the German language, and the German text is the binding one. I always send an English reading copy alongside so you know what you're signing. Both of us sign either by hand or with a qualified electronic signature — a scanned signature or a tick-box isn't enough.
I already sell on Etsy. Doesn't the platform handle this?
No. Marketplaces are required to check whether you're registered and can suspend your listings if you're not, but they don't carry the obligation for you. The duty stays with whoever puts the packaging on the German market — that's you.
What happens if I do nothing?
First your listings get blocked, which is the version most sellers experience. Fines under German packaging law reach six figures for the more serious cases. Given that sorting it out costs you ten minutes, it's rarely a risk worth carrying.
I sell almost nothing to Germany. Is it still worth it?
That's a fair question and the honest answer is: sometimes not. If Germany is three orders a year, look at whether that market earns its paperwork. I'd rather tell you that now than take your money.
Set it up once. Then it's my job.
I hold the recycling contract, file the reports, watch both deadlines and deal with the authority. Twice a year I'll ask you to confirm your figures — and in between you can write to me whenever something comes up.
Appoint me as your representativeWant the numbers first? work out what it costs you — no account needed.