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Getting to know guarantees

The guarantee here has nothing to do with the warranty that you provide for your products towards your customer!

Why an ‘insolvency safe guarantee’?

In Germany, electrical and electronic waste equipment is generally taken to the communities’ recycling yards by the consumers. There they are picked up by the producers registered with stiftung ear, who then have to take care of the disposal. Therefore the producers are responsible for financing disposal. But what if there should no longer be a producer registered at stiftung ear for a specific type of equipment?

In this case (guarantee case) there is the so-called ‘insolvency safe guarantee’, that has to be verified by every producer of equipment for private use (b2c equipment) on registration and then every calendar year following. In case of a guarantee these guarantees are used, thereby ensuring the waste equipment disposal for the municipalities is financed. 

As producers of electrical and electronic equipment that is exclusively not used in private households (b2b equipment) are obligated anyway to take back this equipment, there is no need for an insolvency safe guarantee for such equipment on registration. 

You are rendering your guarantee individually?
Then you should secure several calendar years directly. That way you will not need to deal with providing annual proof of the guarantee every year. 

You are a customer of a collective guarantee system?
Then you have to report annually how high the guarantee amount is that you require.

What is to be done when the amount is exhausted?

Are you using a surety or deposit as a guarantee? Is the guarantee amount of these guarantees already depleted for past calendar years or other types of equipment, then you have to increase your surety or deposit according to the amount. You can have an ammendment created via your bank or insurance that will increase the surety amount under the same contract number. If you have chosen deposit, you can apply for an increase in the deposit amount at the depositary with the reference number (deposit number / HL) of the existing deposit.

You can see which amount is necessary for coverage in the ear-Portal. It could make sense to plan in a ‘buffer’. As: If the guarantee amount needs to be increased, you will have to pay a fee for the audit.

Please ensure that you do not create a completely new surety or deposit so as to avoid additional auditing fees for the individual guarantee.

Handling in the ear-Portal

What happens if you do not increase the guarantee amount?

If the total guarantee amount is not increased in time, stiftung ear will first send you a reminder regarding the missing or insufficient guarantee.

Important note: As soon as you receive such a message it is advisable to take measures immediately to ensure the equipment amounts that were not covered, as otherwise your registrations may be revoked.

When can you access the secured amounts again?

The guarantee amounts are not immediately available when you terminate your registrations. You have to retain your approved proof of guarantee as long as the electrical and electronic equipment on average presumably will last. Only after this time can you use the amounts again, for example in later years. 

FAQs on the insolvency safe guarantee

You can find answers to frequently asked questions in our FAQ section.

You can see in the ear-Portal which part of your guarantee is already used an see if you have to increase your guarantee amount. In the section ‘Garantien’ you can export a document after choosing ‘Verbrauch’. In this dokument you can see the amount of the necessary guarantee.