German Legislation on Electronics and Batteries

ELEKTROG AND BATTG, WHAT IS IT AND WHY DO YOU NEED TO DEAL WITH IT?

The ElektroG and BattG come from European legislation known as the WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment). This legislation covers a wide range of electronic and electrical devices, such as computers, electronic fly sashes, refrigerators or mobile phones. The purpose of this legislation is to reduce waste and stimulate recycling. Once you manufacture, sell or import electrical or electronic equipment into the EU, you need to ensure that you comply with the European WEEE legislation.

Please note that this legislation is independent from the VerpackG we wrote about earlier.

• Regularly report sales and keep track of the registration of new devices that are going to be sold.
• Add the WEEE registration number to the products, to label products properly and to inform households that products can be recycled.
• Ensure that households can properly dispose of products and that this waste is correctly processed.

STIFTUNG EAR

International producers without a branch in Germany can no longer register in the EAR register. However, there are still two options to register: either open a branch in Germany, or appoint an agent in Germany. The latter will be necessary for many British entrepreneurs. Erroneous registrations may result in a fine of 100,000 euros.

Companies report to the EAR register how many tons of electro they have put into circulation. They do this the 15^th of every month for the previous month. Based on these reports, EAR determines the market share and distributes the EAR pickup orders. The company concerned must comply with this collection order within three days by collecting and recycling the designated container filled with electro (source: German-British Chamber of Commerce). Stiftung EAR doesn’t take care of the collection of electronic devices, this needs to be regulated by companies themselves.

THAT MEANS OUTSOURCING…

Many entrepreneurs who read our blogs don’t have a branch in Germany to meet the requirements of the ElektroG. In any case you will have to find a party that can act as “Authorized Representation”. That party can then help you register in the EAR register.

In addition, you will also need to find a party that will help with the collection and processing of electronic devices. You may authorize such a party to handle the processing of electronic devices on your behalf.

You can completely outsource these things through the German-British Chamber of Commerce.

BATTG

The above section was mainly about the ElektroG. Then there’s the BattG. Here the same principle applies. The first to market the batteries is responsible for registering and processing used batteries. To do this, you need to register with the German Umweltbundesamt. When registering, you will specify how to recycle batteries and undertake to actually do so. If you don’t fulfill this obligation you’ll be fined.

To recycle your own products, you also need to take back your own batteries. This is not so easy in practice, so many companies participate in a common system. For example the Stiftung Gemeinsames Rücknahmesystem Batterien. When a pick-up order arrives at your company, this foundation will take it over from you.

Pick up orders, like with ElektroG, are based on market share, which is based on reports from the companies themselves (source: German-British Chamber of Commerce).