take-e-way News and Press Releases

Amendments to Legislative Decree No. 41 of 22 March 2021, the so-called "Decreto Sostegni", were approved during its conversion into law. These amendments include, inter alia, the suspension of the environmental labelling obligation for packaging, as well as the possibility of trading products already placed on the market without the new environmental labelling requirements, until stocks are exhausted.

According to the Bundestag, the Committee for Labour and Social Affairs approved the federal government’s draft bill for an amended version of the Supply Chain Act on 9 June 2021. The Act is to apply to companies with 3,000 employees starting in 2023 and to companies with 1,000 employees a year later. The organisation Deutsche Umwelthilfe is also calling for independent environmental due diligence requirements to apply to all companies with 250 or more employees and to smaller-scale companies in certain risk sectors.

If you do not have a branch office in Germany, you can transfer almost all obligations to an Authorised Representative. If you are interested in this services, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can provide you with the necessary information, application forms and our corresponding Business Management Contract in order to already submit your August Report to LUCID.

The amended Packaging Act will take effect on 3 July 2021. Key content of the legislative amendment: Online marketplaces and fulfilment service providers will need to verify that manufacturers of packaged goods are registered with the Central Agency Packaging Register and comply with the Packaging Act. If you are affected by the Packaging Act and have not yet fulfilled your associated obligations, you should take action now without any further delay.

The Packaging Act (VerpackG) took effect in Germany on 1 January 2019. Already now, about 2 years later, the legislature has introduced amendments to the Packaging Act of relevance to you, which will come into force step by step, taking account of transition periods from 3 July 2021 to 1 January 2029.

On 1st March, we informed you that the new producers’ association Stichting OPEN does not allow for non-Dutch producers to take over the WEEE quantity reporting of their Dutch resellers. Since many different parties requested reconsideration, OPEN has now published a statement.

On 21 May 2021, take-e-way reported on European WEEE enforcement. Solicitor Johannes Richard of the law firm Richard & Kempcke GbR also expressed an opinion on this topic on the website anwalt.de: “The failure to appoint a responsible person or authorised representative is an administrative offence under Section 45 (1) No. 7, (2) of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG), liable to a fine of up to €100,000.”

Press reports of returns being destroyed keep resurfacing time and again. For the revelations in a current case, a researcher from a well-known environmental organisation spent several weeks working as an employee in the logistics centre of a well-known online mail order firm and documented the transactions. The environmental organisation’s demand shows just how heated the debate on this topic has meanwhile become: “The destruction of new goods must become a punishable offence in this legislative period!” In collaboration with a partner company from Hamburg, take-e-way offers a fast and individually tailored solution for returns handling, repairs and relabelling.

On 27 May 2021, the new Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act was promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette. The Act will take effect on 1 January 2022. In recent weeks, take-e-way and the association VERE e.V. had reported the key innovations, which we have summarised once again for your convenience.

On 28 May 2021, the Bundesrat approved the amendment to the Packaging Act passed by the Bundestag. It implements two EU directives into German law and is intended to improve the practical enforcement of the German Packaging Act, which has been in force since 2019. The amendment is scheduled to take effect on 3 July 2021.