Packaging Register – What Is It Good for and What’s New?

You know what it’s like… Your business is just starting up or rolling and you try to take into account all legal regulations. All licenses have to be applied for, as well as entries in many registers. One of these registries is the packaging register! But what exactly is it and what is it good for? That is in itself super simple. The German Central Packaging Register Office, which was founded in 2017, maintains a public register called LUCID. This register takes all your packaging data and automatically forwards it to all the important sites.

Wondering what this is used for and if you are affected? Then just read on and find out!

Why, When, How?!

You have to register as a company if you bring goods and/or filling material into circulation by mail order. This is independent of the size of your business, the turnover but also the type or quantity of packaging. As soon as your packaging ends up in the rubbish at any point in the supply chain, it must be licensed.

The Lucid Register ensures that retailers and manufacturers take financial responsibility and support sustainability. Any packaging that is registered will be recycled and reused, which should be in everyone’s interest for the sake of our environment. Indeed, this is one of the Registry’s primary objectives, to increase the rate of recycled packaging material. But you should also do it for the sake of your end consumer, as you will ensure that they can dispose of their packaging free of charge.

And if that doesn’t get them interested either, you should do it for your own sake and for the sake of your business. You ask yourself why? What could possibly happen? We will tell you: Quite a lot! If you’re lucky, you’ll only get a warning for committing an administrative offence. Otherwise you will face a fine of 200,000€ and in the worst case a sales ban. To easily avoid this potential damage, just click through and follow the simple steps, we’ll explain how here!

And This Is How It Works!

It really isn’t too ard. You will be guided through this process on every registration website, and everything will be explained step by step. Don’t worry, you can’t do much wrong.

First you have to register at the central registration office via the registry database LUCID. All the documents you need are listed there for you. At the end of the process you will receive a registration number, which you should keep safe.

In the second step, you have to license yourself with a dual system. You do this quite simply via a system partner, where you initially enter an estimate of the amount of packaging, including adhesive tape, filling material, etc. In the course of the year, you can submit the actual quantity. After you have entered the quantities, the costs incurred are immediately displayed. Registration itself is free of charge with any system partner and in the register. A dual system in addition to the district or city is primarily concerned with the collection, return and recycling of sales packaging.

Once the process is completed, at the beginning of each year you have to transmit the quantities of your packaging to your system partner, who then forwards it to the central office, thus the system ensures complete transparency.

Until now, there was no obligation to have transport packaging licensed, but this will change from 01.07.2022! From this date, you have to register all packaging that leaves your warehouse, regardless of who the recipient is. Another change is that if you work with a logistics service provider, they can no longer do your registration for you, but you are now responsible for it yourself as a brand. As of 1 July 2022, fulfillment service providers may only provide their fulfilment services if your company is registered in the packaging register and the packaging (shipping and, if applicable, product packaging) participates in a system.

If you have any questions regarding these topics, you can read everything in detail here in the FAQ’s.