The German Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) authority is the Stiftung EAR (EAR foundation - http://www.stiftung-ear.de). The following aspects of WEEE obligations are specific to Germany:
Producer definition:
In addition to the Directive's definition, Germany will also consider you as a producer of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) products you ship into Germany if you sell products in Germany and are not located in Germany. You are considered a producer of EEE in Germany even if these products carry a manufacturer's brand and the manufacturer is registered with the EAR foundation.
Registration number:
Provide the German EAR/WEEE registration number or numbers on the About Seller section of your storefront and on all invoices.
Provide a guarantee:
Sellers must provide a financial guarantee to the EAR foundation, the amount of which depends primarily on the number and weight of the products that you intend to place on the German market.
Reporting:
Producers must report to the EAR foundation the amount of EEE products placed on the German market and the products shipped abroad on a monthly basis.
Take-back obligations for producers and sellers:
In Germany, the take-back obligations are as follows:
From time to time, the German authority collecting WEEE products in public waste collection facilities will request producers to collect such waste and dispose of it appropriately. The frequency of such requests, and the volume to take back, depends on the volume that the producer places on the German market.
All online sellers must offer customers to take back old EEE products:
The seller has to take back these products, even from customers who purchase nothing from them, and even if the seller does not offer the device type in its product range ("0:1 take-back").
The seller only has to take back the old device from a customer who purchases a similar new device from them ("1:1 take-back").
Both the 0:1 and the 1:1 take-back obligation only apply to sellers who have or use more than 400 sqm of sales area in one place in Germany for the storage or sale of EEE products.
All sellers with a take-back obligation have to: