Producers / initial distributors have to submit all the information about packaging that they provided to the system they participate in to the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (Central Agency Packaging Register – ZSVR) without delay. These are: 

• registration number;
• material type and mass of the participating packaging;
• name of the system in which the packaging participates; 
• period of system participation.

A producer is required to enter into a contract with a system ('participate in a system') regarding the packaging mass that the producer is planning to place onto the German market. At the same time, the exact volumes that the producer reported to the system also need to be submitted to the ZSVR, by entering the information into the LUCID Packaging Register.

Every report made by a producer to a system in 2019, which may include the year-end reports for 2018, must also be submitted to the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (Central Agency Packaging Register – ZSVR). Where the 2018 reporting year is concerned, the only exception is that the substantive requirements for the reports are still based on the Verpackungsverordnung (Packaging Ordinance), which was in force through the end of 2018. This means that the provision of information about material type is derived from the old statute (e.g. cumulative composite reporting). The input screens in LUCID, the database of the ZSVR, provide for the relevant entries.

The producer's volume reports are always made in duplicate. As soon as a volume report is made to a system, the producer is required to report the same information to the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (Central Agency Packaging Register – ZSVR).

If a producer has contractually agreed to provide a single report to a system per year (regardless of whether it contains planned or actual volumes), they also must submit this information to the ZSVR immediately. Where more frequent reporting has been agreed with the system (e.g. quarterly or monthly), the producer must submit more frequent volume reports to the ZSVR. In order to make the process as simple and unbureaucratic as possible, the volume reports can also be transmitted using an XML file.

No, the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act) prohibits the instruction of a third party for data reporting. Data reporting must be completed personally by the producer under obligation, or an appropriately authorised contact person in the producer's company. This must also be confirmed with each report.