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What effects will the new packaging law have for wine merchants in Germany from 1 January 2019?
The German Packaging Act (VerpackG) came into force in Germany on 1 January 2019 and replaces the Packaging Ordinance valid until 31 December 2018. The aim of the law is, firstly, to recycle certain packaging materials to a greater extent than before and, secondly, to generally reduce the volume of waste. To this end, the regulations on waste separation, disposal, reuse and recycling will be tightened.
Licensing obligation for packaging
All mail order companies and thus also all wine merchants in Germany who ship wine to their customers are affected by the new regulations. The law obliges every consignor of goods to license all packaging that he puts into circulation commercially for the first time. According to § 3 VerpackG, packaging is "products manufactured from any material for the reception, protection, handling, delivery or presentation of goods, which may range from raw materials to processed products, which are passed on from the manufacturer to the distributor or final consumer". In the wine trade this applies to shipping cartons as well as to adhesive tape, filling material, air cushions, bottle sleeves and all other packaging material.
The law refers to the shipping and product packaging. In the case of wine, it is usually the producer (i.e. the winemaker) who must license the product packaging (bottles, caps, etc.), as he is the one who puts them into circulation commercially for the first time. He must also license all packaging materials that are used for shipping from the winery to the wine merchant. The wine merchant must then license the packaging materials used for shipping to the customer. Winemakers who themselves ship wines to their customers must fully license both the product and the necessary shipping packaging.
Obligation to participate in a dual system
§ Section 7(1) of the Packaging Act obliges all traders who put sales packaging or secondary packaging filled with goods (in this case wine) into circulation for the first time on a commercial basis to participate with this packaging in at least one waste separation system. Those who do not participate in such a dual system may not use any shipping packaging commercially.
Obligation to register in the packaging register
According to § 9 VerpackG, every mail order company (distributor) must register with the Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR) - www.verpackungsregister.org. Without this registration, it is prohibited as of 1 January 2019 to put sales or repackaging filled with goods that accumulate at the private end customer commercially into circulation. Those who do so without prior registration risk a fine of up to 200,000 euros. Registration is a prerequisite for participation in a dual system and therefore had to be completed before the law came into force. The register is public, so that every market participant (competitor, supplier, buyer and the competent authorities) can check whether a wine trader is properly registered or not.
Obligation to indicate one-way and returnable packaging
In addition, mail-order companies must inform their customers whether the packaging materials can be reused after return or not. A corresponding information - "one-way packaging" or "reusable packaging" - must be provided by the wine merchant, for example, already in the online shop.
Packaging licensing with "Lizenzero
The environmental service provider Interseroh, which is recognised as a dual system, offers a convenient and cost-effective complete solution for packaging licensing with "Lizenzero". Wine retailers can obtain detailed information about the new packaging law at www.lizenzero.de and, as soon as they are entered in the packaging register, license their packaging - Business Premium members of wein.plus receive a price advantage of 12 percent here. Details can be found in the wein.plus World of Benefits for Members: Packaging licensing with Interseroh