---
title: "Germany Packaging Law (VerpackG) for Sellers Abroad"
description: "Shipping to Germany from the UK, US or India? Germany's Packaging Act requires LUCID registration and a dual-system licence before you sell. Steps, costs, weights and fines for small online sellers."
url: https://importdutycalc.com/germany-packaging-epr
---

Germany guide · checked 13 October 2026

# Germany packaging law (VerpackG) for online sellers abroad

If you ship orders to consumers in Germany, the boxes, fillers and tape you send count as packaging you "placed on the market" there, even from the UK, US or India. Germany's Packaging Act makes you register and pay for its recycling before you sell.

**Want the answer for your own case?** Use the tool, then read on for the details.

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## Who has to comply

Anyone selling packaged goods to private customers in Germany, including sellers based abroad and small Etsy, eBay or Amazon shops. There is no minimum volume. One parcel a year is enough.

Marketplaces and fulfilment services must check that their sellers are registered, so an unregistered shop can be blocked from selling to Germany.

## The three steps

- **Register in LUCID**, the free packaging register run by the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister. You get a registration number. Use your business's real name and tax number.
- **Join a dual system** (a licensed recycling scheme) and pay for the estimated weight of packaging you'll send each year, split by material: paper and card, plastic, glass and so on. For a small shop this usually costs tens of euros a year.
- **Report the same figures in LUCID** that you gave the dual system, and update them at year end with the real weights.

Very large senders (for example over 50 tonnes of paper a year) must also file a declaration of completeness. Small shops don't.

## Working out your weights

Weigh one of each box, mailer, filler and tape roll you use, multiply by the parcels you expect to send to Germany in a year, and add 10–20% headroom. Most small sellers end up with a few kilograms of card and a little plastic.

## If you don't

- Selling without registering or licensing can bring fines of up to €100,000 (no registration) or €200,000 (no dual system), and a sales ban in Germany.
- Marketplaces can remove your German listings.

## Other EU countries

France, Spain, Austria and others run their own packaging schemes with their own registration. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) began applying on 12 August 2026 and will bring the rules closer together over the next few years; until then, Germany's LUCID registration is what marketplaces check.

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Sources: Verpackungsgesetz (VerpackG) §§7, 9, 10, 11 and 36; Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (LUCID). Read 13 October 2026. Guidance, not legal advice.