The German Packaging Act (VerpackG) is a German law aimed to reduce the impact of packaging waste on the environment.
VerpackG applies to all companies and online retailers who send packaged shipments to Germany. It requires that you pay a fee for the disposal and recycling costs of the packaging you import into Germany.
We decided to register in the LUCID system and cover all packaging charges imposed by VerpackG for orders fulfilled by us and imported to Germany, so you don’t have to. This also includes your warehousing products that we haven’t produced ourselves.
What you should know:
- If you fulfill your products only with Printful, you don’t have to pay any extra fees and register your business with Germany’s Packing Registry.
- If you sell products fulfilled by another company or yourself, you can’t use Printful LUCID ID for these products. Please check if you have to register your business with the Central Packaging Registry, or make sure that the company you’re working with has registered and is paying the required fees.
- If you’ve already registered with the Central Packaging Registry and sell Printful products only, you can still use our LUCID ID number.
Starting July 1, 2022, online marketplaces will be required to verify that all the sellers who send their packaged goods to Germany have registered with the LUCID packaging register.
As mentioned above, since you fulfill your products with Printful, you don’t need to have your own LUCID registration. However, currently, we don’t submit Printful’s LUCID registration number to the marketplaces automatically. So you should manually submit the Printful LUCID registration number (DE4402313676935) to your account on the marketplace you’re using.
We’ve prepared instructions on how to submit your LUCID registration number to the following marketplaces:
To find out how to submit your LUCID registration number to other marketplaces, please contact the support team of the respective marketplace.
Please note that ecommerce platforms (e.g., Shopify, Wix) aren’t considered online marketplaces and aren’t required to collect a LUCID registration number. So you don’t need to submit Printful’s LUCID number to the ecommerce platforms you’re using unless they specifically require you to. However, you have to make sure your business complies with the German Packaging Act.
Marketplaces may also ask you to provide additional information about the company that produces your products, such as their VAT ID, company name, and address. This information is visible on our invoice, and, if required, you can share it with the marketplace.
If the marketplace requests proof of why you are using a LUCID registration number that isn’t yours, you can share this letter with the marketplace support team, explaining that Printful is paying the packaging disposal and recycling fee on your behalf.
If you sell products fulfilled by another company or yourself, you can’t use Printful’s LUCID registration number for these products. Please make sure that the company that fulfills your products complies with the German Packaging Act by contacting them directly. In turn, if you fulfill products by yourself, you should provide your own LUCID identification number to the marketplaces (you can find or obtain the number in the Central Packaging registry).
If you have any questions, please contact our support team.
Note: The current LUCID registration procedure may be subject to change. Our main priority is ensuring the continuity of orders to Germany and compliance with the imposed environmental laws. We're monitoring this regulation through the transition period while continuing to look for ways to ensure the best solution in the long term.
