Registration

Registration according to ElektroG is a permanent administrative act, not a contract or membership. As a producer/authorised representative you are registered with a brand and a type of equipment. For further brands and/or further types of equipment you apply for each with a separate registration. This can be submitted under the same applicant’s account and therefore under the same registration number. 

Obligations from registration

As a producer of electrical and electronic equipment, or respectively as their authorised representative, you have different obligations that are valid as long as the registration is not revoked.

For all producers of electrical and electronic equipment, or respectively their ElektroG authorised representatives, there applies a

Marking obligation

Mark electrical and electronic equipment that you place on the European market in such a way beforehand that you can be unambiguously identified as the producer and permanently imprint the symbol of the crossed-out wheeled bin. A date mark underneath this symbol states from when the electrical and electronic equipment was placed on the market. Instead it is possible to mark it with a filled-out bar. These marking obligations are valid for electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market after 13th August 2005, as well as for:

• Luminaires from private households and photovoltaic modules that were placed on the market from 24th October 2015.
• Electrical and electronic equipment that was within the scope of ElektroG for the first time from 15th August 2018 and were placed on the market for the first time after that point in time
• b2b equipment that is placed on the market as of 1st January, 2023. As of this point in time b2b equipment must also be labelled with the symbol of the crossed out wheeled bin. Subsequent labelling of equipment already placed on the market, or respectively such equipment that is placed on the market by 31st December 2022, is not required.

The further obligations differ, depending on whether b2c or b2b-equipment is placed on the market.

Producers of b2c equipment, or respectively their authorised representatives

• Proof of guarantee obligation: Proof an insolvency safe guarantee every calendar year. Detailed information has been collected for you at.
• Amount report obligations: Submit monthly and yearly reports on electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market, as well as of taken back and disposed of waste equipment. You can find detailed information on the notification obligations at
• Recovery and disposal: Within your product responsibility for your electrical and electronic equipment you fulfill set-up and pick-up orders. You can find further information on so-called pick-up coordination at. The taken back waste equipment must be re-used, treated, or disposed of (§ 16 paragraph 1 and 2 ElektroG).
• Information obligation: As a producer of  b2c equipment you should please inform your customer in writing of 
  • the obligation to dispose of waste equipment separately from household waste and to take out non-permanently fixed batteries, or respectively rechargable batteries, as well as lamps beforehand and to dispose of them separately;
  • the business’s take-back obligation
  • the return options for waste equipment created by you;
  • the end user’s own responsibility to delete person-related data on the waste equipment which is to be disposed of;
  • the meaning of the crossed-out wheeled bin;
  • the fulfillment of the recovery and separately recorded rate, whereby an appropriate note on the publication of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (to be found at) is sufficient.  

Producers of b2b equipment, respectively their authorised representatives 

• Take-back: As a producer of electrical and electronic equipment that is exclusively used in other than private households or usually not used in private households (b2b equipment), you yourself deal with taking-back and disposal of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market. An appropriate take-back concept is to be submitted on applying for registration. You can find more information on the take-back concept at. Within the scope of the annual report you submit the amounts placed on the market, taken back and disposed of. You can find more information on the notification obligations at. 
• Information obligation: As a producer of  b2b equipment you should please inform your customer of ​​​​​​
  • the obligation to dispose of waste equipment separately from household waste 
  • the return and disposal options for waste equipment created by you;
  • the end user’s own responsibility to delete person-related data on the waste equipment which is to be disposed of;
  • the meaning of the crossed-out wheeled bin;

Change of company name or legal form

If a company registered as a producer or authorised representative changes its company name, the legal form, or if restructuring leads to further corporate law changes, this can have an effect on the registration. This is why you cannot change the company name in the ear-portal yourself. 

► Important: Please notify stiftung ear (stating your registration number to info(at)stiftung-ear.de) of the change of company name, legal form or the restructuring and the registration data (address, legal representative, etc.). Please also add the appropriate documents (historic commercial register excerpt, contracts), from which the changes can be derived.

Stiftung ear will then check whether it is possible to take over the registration and consequently the registration number. Should this be the case the company data will be changed, charges apply.

Should only the company name change, or be it only an identity retaining change of form according to §§ 190 pp UmwG, the registration can be taken over. Should there be further corporate law changes (i.e. merger), then registration can only be taken over if the rights and obligations of the company registered to date have been fully transferred to the newly created company where the corporate law change according to universal succession applies (see § 37 paragraph 4 ElektroG). 

If individual rights and obligations from one registered producer are transferred to another company, it is possible that this company must apply for registration again.

The sooner you inform stiftung ear of pending corporate law changes, the more time you have to apply for a new registration should that be necessary.