Can I take out a packaging licence retroactively?

Yes, system participation for past periods can be made up. In its case report 01/2023, the ZSVR states that omitted system participation must be made up by the company concerned, and following the Federal Administrative Court ruling of 23 July 2026 on permanent carrier bags, a need to make up system participation may also arise for past periods. The prerequisite is that you can prove the quantities per year and material from your records. Making up system participation does not replace registration: they are separate obligations. For the packaging costs incurred across several countries, a separate calculation is worthwhile.

Is there a voluntary disclosure or amnesty for a missed EPR registration?

No, neither the VerpackDG nor the ElektroG provides for a general amnesty or a voluntary disclosure with guaranteed exemption from penalties comparable to tax law. Whether a voluntary catch-up is taken into account to reduce a fine in an individual case is decided by the authority responsible under the law of the federal state; no commitment can be derived from it.

May I keep selling while the late registration is in progress?

No, not with the products concerned. Under § 6(2) ElektroG, producers without proper registration may not place electrical equipment on the market, and marketplaces may not enable it to be offered; which EPR proof marketplaces such as Amazon require is set per platform. Under packaging law, a sales ban also applies to unregistered producers for packaging subject to system participation. The ban only affects the products and mandatory areas where the registration is missing, not automatically the whole product range. Until the registration is in place, the fastest route is a conversation with an adviser, not waiting.

Missed your EPR registration? How to close the gap properly

Closing current gaps and reconstructing past obligations

If you have missed an EPR registration, you have to tackle two things separately: close the current gap immediately and reconstruct the past obligations from sales and supplier records. A new registration does not erase past infringements. Both belong together, because the competent bodies check retroactively whether the obligations for earlier periods were met.

Which gap exists?

Packaging: LUCID registration, and where applicable system participation and data reports.
Electrical equipment: WEEE registration with stiftung ear (the German WEEE register).
Batteries: battery registration with stiftung ear.
Single-use plastic products: registration with the Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency) via DIVID.

How a missed obligation can be corrected differs by mandatory area. A registration made today does not automatically apply retroactively. That is why the current need for action and possible obligations from past periods have to be checked separately.

Since 12 August 2026, current packaging obligations have been governed by the VerpackDG (Packaging Law Implementation Act) together with the PPWR^[1]. For earlier periods, by contrast, the law in force at the time, including the transitional provisions, is decisive. That is why a review of the past must first clarify, for each period, which registration, system participation, report or declaration was required at the time.

Electrical equipment is governed by the ElektroG (German Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act)^[2]: under § 6(2), producers that are not registered, or not properly registered, may not place their equipment on the market^[3]. Marketplaces may not enable such equipment to be offered. Selling it is therefore not only subject to fines but directly prohibited.

The enforcement pattern is shown by case report 04/2020 of the Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR): several affiliated fashion boutiques of a foreign fashion brand with its own online shop had failed to meet their packaging law obligations for years^[4]. They only registered in the LUCID packaging register after the ZSVR had pointed out the unlawful omission; at the same time, system participation had been missing for years. The ZSVR informed the competent enforcement authorities of the federal states, and system participation also had to be made up for past years. Similarly, case report 01/2023 on a Dutch food producer shows that missing declarations of completeness (Vollständigkeitserklärung) for 2018 to 2020 were made up and penalised with a fine of several thousand euros^[5].

Because the past, ongoing bans and future obligations come together here, general online information is no substitute for an assessment of your case. If an EPR obligation was overlooked, it is not enough to check this single gap: with the ClearoSystems needs analysis, you get a complete overview of which current EPR obligations apply to your products, roles, sales channels and target countries. This way you spot further gaps early and avoid the same situation happening to you again elsewhere. Dealing with infringements that have already occurred has to be clarified separately, case by case.

Reconstructing past sales and supplier records

The reconstruction follows a fixed order: first record sales and sales countries, then determine the products and your role at the time for each mandatory area, then check the registration, reporting and financing obligations that applied to the period in question. Thresholds only matter where the relevant law expressly provides for them, for example for the declaration of completeness under packaging law. If you proceed systematically here, you can present a reliable position to the competent body.

Record sales per legal entity, product, market and period. Data sources are marketplace reports, shop exports, invoices and supplier confirmations.
Assign separately for each mandatory area: packaging and WEEE are separate regimes with their own roles and registers. Clarify for each legal act which role your company had.
Check whether the exemption thresholds for the declaration of completeness under § 10(4) VerpackDG were reached: less than 80 tonnes of glass, less than 50 tonnes of paper, paperboard and cardboard, less than 30 tonnes of the other material types^[6]. The declaration of completeness has to be filed annually by 15 May for the previous year.

The assignment per mandatory area decides which catch-up is needed. A missing LUCID registration is something different from omitted system participation or a data report that was not submitted. For electrical equipment, registration with stiftung ear comes on top. If you only have to catch up in one area, you are not automatically in the clear in the others. If you also sell to other EU countries, every sales constellation counts.

Submitting late filings, observing sales bans: no amnesty

Records must be kept, and corrections for the past must be agreed with the competent body and your adviser. If a statutory sales ban applies because of a missing registration or another mandatory requirement, the sales concerned must stop until the requirements for lawfully making the products available are met again. Three points have to be kept apart.

For infringements of the VerpackDG in force today, the following ranges of fines under § 66(3) apply in particular, graded per infringement: up to 200,000 euros for omitted system participation (paragraph 1 no. 3), up to 100,000 euros for omitted registration (no. 1) or infringement of the bans in §§ 12 and 13 (no. 8), up to 10,000 euros in the other cases, for example reporting infringements. For infringements from earlier periods, check which law applied at the time.
The competent administrative authority is the body designated under the law of the federal state, not the ZSVR. The ZSVR reports suspected cases but does not decide on fines.
No retroactive cure: on 23 July 2026, the Federal Administrative Court confirmed that the permanent carrier bags concerned are subject to system participation^[7]. The ZSVR points out that this may also mean that affected companies have to make up system participation for past periods.

The upper limits apply per infringement: if you have breached several obligations, for example registration and system participation, you may face several infringements that are relevant under the law on administrative offences. Whether these are treated as one or several administrative offences depends on the specific facts. A documented catch-up that you agree with the competent body and your adviser creates a reliable position for these proceedings.

Outlook: what still needs to be clarified

The documented position today is the VerpackDG, in force since 12 August 2026^[1], and the ElektroG in its current version. Further details under the PPWR and the VerpackDG will follow, without a date or amount being fixed today. The position in two years cannot be promised today. Open points remain open until a later legal act, tariff or announcement clarifies them.

A missed registration cannot be undone. What matters is closing the current gap quickly and at the same time checking whether other EPR obligations have been overlooked. The ClearoSystems needs analysis gives you the complete overview of your obligations today. Past omissions are then dealt with separately, where necessary.

Frequently asked questions about late registration

Frequently asked questions

Can I take out a packaging licence retroactively?: Yes, system participation for past periods can be made up. In its case report 01/2023, the ZSVR states that omitted system participation must be made up by the company concerned, and following the Federal Administrative Court ruling of 23 July 2026 on permanent carrier bags, a need to make up system participation may also arise for past periods. The prerequisite is that you can prove the quantities per year and material from your records. Making up system participation does not replace registration: they are separate obligations. For the packaging costs incurred across several countries, a separate calculation is worthwhile.
Is there a voluntary disclosure or amnesty for a missed EPR registration?: No, neither the VerpackDG nor the ElektroG provides for a general amnesty or a voluntary disclosure with guaranteed exemption from penalties comparable to tax law. Whether a voluntary catch-up is taken into account to reduce a fine in an individual case is decided by the authority responsible under the law of the federal state; no commitment can be derived from it.
May I keep selling while the late registration is in progress?: No, not with the products concerned. Under § 6(2) ElektroG, producers without proper registration may not place electrical equipment on the market, and marketplaces may not enable it to be offered; which EPR proof marketplaces such as Amazon require is set per platform. Under packaging law, a sales ban also applies to unregistered producers for packaging subject to system participation. The ban only affects the products and mandatory areas where the registration is missing, not automatically the whole product range. Until the registration is in place, the fastest route is a conversation with an adviser, not waiting.