Can you be identified on the packaging by name or brand or both?

In the case of own brands, the legal status of the initial distributor may differ from that of the party who is the first to actually fill the packaging with goods, if a so-called third party commissions the filling. An example for filling/packaging at the instruction of a third party is a retail company that has a contract packager / contract manufacturer fill/package the goods. If the packaging bears only the third party's name or brand, then this third party is the producer subject to registration and system participation. The precise information shown on the packaging is the deciding factor. It is only in cases where the contract packager cannot be ascertained from the packaging that the producer status is transferred to the ordering party (third party).

If the name of the contract manufacturer appears with the phrase 'produced for [name/brand of retail company]', it is the contract manufacturer who is the initial distributor / producer and therefore the party subject to registration and system participation.

Labelling (e.g. as may be required under food law) that does not indicate the name (identifying marker) does not constitute the naming of the contract packager; the third party therefore remains subject to registration and system participation.

In general, online retail is subject to the same provisions as mail order companies or businesses.

'Producers' subject to registration and system participation also include

• online shops located outside of Germany that deliver packaged goods directly to private final consumers in Germany, and
• online retailers located within Germany that take returned products, repair them and send them back to final consumers in their own packaging.

Commissioning fulfilment service providers
The amended version of the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act – VerpackG), parts of which entered into force on 3 July 2021, contains specific provisions concerning the responsibility of distributors – including mail order companies and online retailers – regarding shipment packaging where fulfilment service providers are used. These provisions can be found in section 7 (7) and section 3 (14c) VerpackG:
In accordance with these provisions, fulfilment service providers who fill shipment packaging subject to system participation packaging with goods are not considered producers within the meaning of the Verpackungsgesetz. Instead, the producer of the shipment packaging is the distributor of the goods who has commissioned the fulfilment service provider. As such, it is the distributor who must register the shipment packaging and ensure its system participation.
The distributor under obligation pursuant to the Verpackungsgesetz will then have to request the information required for system participation – such as the shipment packaging volumes and material types – from their fulfilment service provider. Under section 3 (14c) VerpackG, a fulfilment service provider is anyone offering at least two of the following services for distributors in the course of their business activities: warehousing, packing, addressing and dispatching goods over which they have no ownership. Post, parcel delivery or other forwarding agents are not classified as fulfilment service providers.
Starting 1 July 2022, fulfilment service providers will only be able to provide their fulfilment services if the commissioning distributor has registered in the Packaging Register and the packaging (shipment and product packaging, as applicable) has participated with a system.
Where imports are concerned, special provisions may apply. Please see our subject-specific paper on imports for more information.

Any party who fills the shipment packaging with goods and places it onto the German market for the first time bears producer responsibility for it. Because the shipment packaging facilitates the delivery of the goods to final consumers, and therefore typically accumulates as waste with final consumers, it is always considered to be retail packaging. If it typically accumulates with private final consumers, the mail order company is subject to system participation.

Commissioning fulfilment service providers
The amended version of the Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act – VerpackG), parts of which entered into force on 3 July 2021, contains specific provisions concerning the responsibility of distributors – including mail order companies and online retailers – regarding shipment packaging where fulfilment service providers are used. These provisions can be found in section 7 (7) and section 3 (14c) VerpackG:
In accordance with these provisions, fulfilment service providers who fill shipment packaging subject to system participation packaging with goods are not considered producers within the meaning of the Verpackungsgesetz. Instead, the producer of the shipment packaging is the distributor of the goods who has commissioned the fulfilment service provider. As such, it is the distributor who must register the shipment packaging and ensure its system participation.
The distributor under obligation pursuant to the Verpackungsgesetz will then have to request the information required for system participation – such as the shipment packaging volumes and material types – from their fulfilment service provider. Under section 3 (14c) VerpackG, a fulfilment service provider is anyone offering at least two of the following services for distributors in the course of their business activities: warehousing, packing, addressing and dispatching goods over which they have no ownership. Post, parcel delivery or other forwarding agents are not classified as fulfilment service providers.
Starting 1 July 2022, fulfilment service providers will only be able to provide their fulfilment services if the commissioning distributor has registered in the Packaging Register and the packaging (shipment and product packaging, as applicable) has participated with a system.
Where imports are concerned, special provisions may apply. Please see our subject-specific paper on imports for more information.