WEEE obligations for Germany

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:

• Producers: Take-back from public authorities and disposal

  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.

• Sellers: Take-back from customer

  All online sellers must offer customers to take back old EEE products:

  • Small end-of-life devices (all outer dimensions less than 25cm):

    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").

  • All other devices

    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.

• Sellers: Registration

  All sellers with a take-back obligation have to:

  • Register their take-back system with the EAR foundation (giving both their name and address, and details of the take-back system); and
  • Report yearly to the EAR foundation the volume of EEE products taken back and recycled or shipped outside the Member State.