PPWR fines and enforcement: who checks, what it costs and what belongs in the file

In brief

Germany's packaging implementation act, the VerpackDG, has been in force since 12 August 2026, and the previous packaging act expired on 11 August 2026. The offences apply in two stages, though: section 66(1) with the national duties, meaning registration, scheme participation, deposit, take-back and records, has applied since 12 August 2026. Section 66(2) with breaches of the Regulation itself only applies from 12 February 2027 under section 68(17). That is exactly the date by which Article 68 of the Regulation requires every Member State to have rules on penalties.

Section 66 VerpackDG has three tiers: up to EUR 200,000, up to EUR 100,000 and up to EUR 10,000. The allocation surprises many. Packaging design is not the expensive part, organisation is: failing to join a producer responsibility scheme, running a scheme without authorisation or missing the reuse targets sits in the top tier. Placing packaging on the market that does not meet the requirements on substances of concern, recyclability, recycled content or labelling sits in the bottom one, and only from February 2027.

Fines are still not the sharpest tool, and the deferral to 2027 is no free pass. Without registration and without scheme participation, producers may not make packaging available in Germany at all, distributors may not sell it and fulfilment service providers may not handle it (section 13 VerpackDG). Add to that orders from market surveillance, withdrawal of the registration, confiscation under section 67 VerpackDG and the rule in section 17(4) of the Administrative Offences Act, under which the fine is to exceed the economic benefit gained. The statutory maximum may be exceeded for that purpose.

Enforcement is shared. The Central Agency Packaging Register checks registration, data reports, declarations of completeness and authorisations, and informs the state authorities when irregularities cannot be resolved. The market surveillance authorities of the federal states check the packaging itself and impose the fines. Online marketplaces must obtain their sellers' registration details, and competitors showed under the previous packaging act that they will issue warning letters.

Since when it has been serious

The PPWR has applied since 12 August 2026. Article 68 requires Member States to lay down rules on penalties and to notify the Commission by 12 February 2027. For breaches of Articles 24 to 29, meaning the empty space limit, the packaging bans, reuse systems and the reuse targets, the national rules must expressly provide for administrative fines.

Germany moved early. The act adapting German packaging law to Regulation (EU) 2025/40, dated 13 July 2026, was promulgated in the Federal Law Gazette on 17 July 2026. Its Article 1 is the VerpackDG, which largely entered into force on 12 August 2026, the same day as the Regulation. The previous packaging act expired on 11 August 2026.

The offences apply in two stages. Section 66(1) sanctions the duties under German law and has applied since 12 August 2026: registration, scheme participation, prohibitions on making available, deposit, take-back, waste flow verifications, declarations of completeness. Section 66(2) sanctions breaches of the Regulation itself, meaning design requirements, labelling, conformity assessment, empty space, packaging bans, reuse targets and the duties of online marketplaces. Under section 68(17) VerpackDG that subsection only applies from 12 February 2027.

Concluding from this that the Regulation is without consequence until then confuses the fine with the duty. The requirements have applied since August 2026. Market surveillance can order corrective measures, withdrawal and recall regardless of any fine, and the prohibition in section 13 bites without any procedure. What else the VerpackDG changed is in PPWR, VerpackG, VerpackDG and LUCID.

Who checks what

The Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR). It is entrusted with sovereign tasks and is the authority for the producer register under Article 44 of the Regulation. It registers producers and can withdraw registrations, checks data reports, checks declarations of completeness against register entries and reported volumes, checks waste flow verifications and industry solutions, and decides on authorisations. Where irregularities cannot be resolved, it informs the competent state authorities. The agency does not impose fines; it creates the trigger.

Market surveillance in the federal states. It checks the packaging and the documents behind it: EU declaration of conformity, technical documentation, labelling, material information. It can order corrective measures, withdrawal and recall. Under section 66(4) VerpackDG, the authority competent under state law is also the fining authority. Enforcement therefore sits with the states, not the federal government.

The route to Brussels. Where market surveillance finds a non-conformity that affects other Member States, the Commission and the other states are informed through the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (section 63 VerpackDG). Conversely, German market surveillance learns about provisional measures in other Member States the same way and then has to decide itself (section 64). A complaint in the Netherlands does not stay in the Netherlands.

Online marketplaces. Operators must obtain extended producer responsibility information from their sellers, including the registration number. Failing to do so is itself an administrative offence under section 66(2) VerpackDG. For sellers that means the platform asks for the number before any authority does, and blocks the listing if in doubt.

Competitors. The previous packaging act showed how effective commercial pressure is: missing registration and missing scheme participation were regularly met with warning letters. Case law on the VerpackDG is still outstanding, but the structure of the provisions is the same. Waiting for a warning letter instead of registering means waiting for costs that no fine notice contains.

The three penalty tiers

Section 66 VerpackDG splits the offences into two subsections: subsection 1 covers breaches of German law and has applied since 12 August 2026, subsection 2 covers breaches of the Regulation itself and applies from 12 February 2027. Subsection 3 allocates the ranges to both.

The allocation is not an oversight. Registration, scheme participation and volume reporting fund waste management; evading them creates an immediate commercial advantage over competitors. Design requirements are enforced through market surveillance and the prohibition on making available, not through the size of the fine.

One detail is worth a look: your own data reports under section 9 sit in the bottom tier, the schemes' reports under section 25 in the middle one. Do not mix the two up when prioritising risks.

One uncomfortable consequence for practice: first sort the obligations that cost money when overlooked, then the obligations that cost effort.

Why EUR 10,000 is not the benchmark

Three rules shift the picture.

The economic benefit. Under section 17(4) of the Administrative Offences Act, the fine is to exceed the economic benefit the offender gained from the act. Where the statutory maximum does not suffice, it may be exceeded. For packaging that runs in millions of units over years, the saved participation fees or conversion costs quickly exceed any range.

Confiscation. Section 67 VerpackDG declares confiscation applicable to objects to which the offence relates or that were used to commit it. Separately, section 29a of the Administrative Offences Act allows confiscation of the value of what was obtained where no fine is imposed on the offender. A clawback is not a fine and has no fixed ceiling.

The number of cases. Administrative offences are sanctioned per breach. Breaching one obligation for twenty articles is not one case but potentially twenty. On top of that, section 30 of the Administrative Offences Act allows a fine against the company itself, and section 130 covers failure to supervise at management level.

What hits harder than a fine

The prohibition on making available. Section 13 VerpackDG is the real lever, and it hits three groups. Producers may not make packaging available in Germany if they are not or not properly registered, and may not make packaging subject to system participation available if they have not joined a scheme. For deposit packaging and packaging subject to take-back duties the prohibition applies where the producer is not authorised under section 19 or has not transferred producer responsibility to an authorised organisation.

Distributors and service providers too. Under section 13(3) distributors may not make packaging available if the producer is not registered or has not joined a scheme. Under subsection 4 fulfilment service providers may not handle such packaging at all. Retail and logistics are therefore liable for their supplier's gap, and both are subject to fines since 12 August 2026. The prohibition applies immediately and independently of any procedure: noticing today that the registration is missing means selling unlawfully today.

Withdrawal of the registration. The Central Agency can withdraw registrations. That removes the basis for making packaging available, and platforms see it, because the list of registered producers is public.

Orders from market surveillance. Corrective measures, withdrawal from the market, recall at the customer. Non-compliance with an enforceable order additionally falls into the range up to EUR 100,000.

The chain upstream and downstream. Importers and distributors are liable for the obligations that apply to them and are moved up to producer obligations when they sell under their own name or modify packaging in a way that affects conformity. Which role applies is in producer or manufacturer.

How an inspection runs

The Commission set a clear line for the period right after 12 August 2026. Under section XVI of its FAQ, enforcement should not disrupt trade or supply chains: under Article 62 of the Regulation the authority must first require the economic operator to end the non-compliance, meaning a warning and an opportunity to correct. Prohibition, recall and withdrawal only follow where the breach persists. Market surveillance should support rather than sanction. That is a stance, not a legal position, and it changes nothing about the duties.

The trigger is rarely a raid. More often it is one of four routes: an inconsistency between register entries, data report and declaration of completeness; a tip-off from a competitor; a complaint from another Member State; or a spot check by market surveillance in retail.

What comes first is a request for information. Typically required:

1. Registration number and register extract, plus the mandate where an authorised representative acts
2. Evidence of scheme participation for the packaging concerned
3. EU declaration of conformity for the packaging complained about
4. Technical documentation under Annex VII of the Regulation
5. Test reports and supplier declarations on substances of concern, recycled content and material composition
6. Labelling samples with material identification and sorting information
7. Data reports and the declaration of completeness for the year in question
8. For reuse: a description of the reuse system and the reports under Article 31

Anyone who cannot produce these eight items within a few days does not have a legal problem but a filing problem. Producing them is the difference between a closed matter and a procedure. The template for the declaration of conformity is in declaration of conformity, the request to upstream suppliers in supplier declaration.

Transitional dates worth knowing

Section 68 VerpackDG contains three dates that get lost in the changeover:

Scheme participation from before 12 August 2026 continues to apply, but no longer than 31 December 2026. Anyone who does not move participation to the new law in time is without participation from January, and therefore within the prohibition on making available.

Existing registrations under section 9 of the old packaging act continue as registrations under section 6 VerpackDG. Changes to registration data have to be made by 12 November 2026. That is the next hard date.

New registration obligations, for producers only caught by the VerpackDG, had to be met by 12 September 2026. Anyone who missed this registers now and documents the date; registration cures the future, not the past.

Authorisations run longer. Producers of packaging not subject to system participation may make it available without authorisation under section 19 until 31 December 2027 at the latest. Industry solutions and other producer responsibility organisations may operate without authorisation until 31 October 2027 at the latest. Registered experts have to show training by 31 December 2027, otherwise their registration lapses from 2028.

Which obligation applies when, with all dates to 2040, is in PPWR deadlines.

Elsewhere in the single market

The Regulation is uniform, the penalties are not. Each Member State sets its own ranges and has to notify the Commission by 12 February 2027. Only for breaches of Articles 24 to 29 does Article 68(2) expressly require administrative fines; for everything else the form of the penalty is a national matter. For companies supplying several countries that means three things:

Extended producer responsibility applies per Member State, with its own registration and, where you are not established there, an authorised representative. The penalty for the same gap can look different in France than in Germany. And a complaint in one Member State becomes visible through the market surveillance database, which draws inspections in other countries.

Anyone supplying more than two countries should therefore keep an overview listing registration, authorised representative, reporting deadlines and contacts per country.

Roadmap

1. Check the registration. Reconcile register number, company name, brands and packaging types against what you actually place on the market. Report deviations immediately.
2. Check scheme participation. For all packaging subject to system participation and for the current year. The transitional rule ends on 31 December 2026.
3. Build the file. File the eight items from the inspection section per packaging type, with status and owner.
4. Test for prohibitions. Are there articles without registration, without scheme participation, without deposit marking? Those first.
5. Reconcile data reports and the declaration of completeness with the register entries before the Central Agency does.
6. Assign roles. Who signs the declaration of conformity, who reports, who answers the authority.
7. List cross-border supplies. Registration and authorised representative per country.

Download the compass: PPWR Penalty Compass 2026 with the authorities, the offences by tier, the audit file and the roadmap.

Frequently asked questions

What is the highest fine under the VerpackDG?

The highest range is EUR 200,000 and covers, among others, missing scheme participation, running a scheme without authorisation and missing the reuse targets under Article 29. Under section 17(4) of the Administrative Offences Act the fine can go beyond that where the economic benefit from the breach was higher.

Is there a grace period without penalties in Germany?

Partly. Section 66(1) with the national duties has applied since 12 August 2026. Section 66(2) with breaches of the Regulation itself only applies from 12 February 2027 under section 68(17) VerpackDG. The duties remain in place without a fine, and the prohibition on making available, orders, withdrawal and recall apply regardless.

Do I get a warning before a fine?

As a rule, yes. Under Article 62 of the Regulation the authority must first require the non-compliance to be ended. In section XVI of its FAQ the Commission expressly asked for supportive enforcement, with a request for corrective action and a reasonable timeline. Further measures follow where the breach persists.

Who imposes the fine, the Central Agency or the state?

The state. Under section 66(4) VerpackDG the authority competent under state law is the administrative authority for the purposes of administrative offence law. The Central Agency checks and informs the state authorities about unresolved irregularities.

What happens if packaging does not meet the design requirements?

The range is EUR 10,000. The other consequence matters more: market surveillance can order corrective measures, withdrawal and recall, and non-compliance with an enforceable order falls into the range up to EUR 100,000.

Can competitors issue warning letters?

Under the previous packaging act this was common practice, above all for missing registration and missing scheme participation. The VerpackDG has the same structure; court decisions on it are still outstanding. Factor the risk in, especially in online retail.

Are managing directors personally liable?

It is possible. Section 130 of the Administrative Offences Act covers failure to supervise within a business, and section 30 allows a fine against the company itself. A documented allocation of responsibility and a maintained file are therefore not just good order but a defence.

What about packaging placed on the market before 12 August 2026?

The law in force at the time of placing on the market applies to it. You should be able to evidence that, otherwise you end up arguing about the date instead of the obligation.

How do I prepare for an inspection without turning it into a project?

Set up a file per packaging type with eight items: registration, scheme participation, declaration of conformity, technical documentation, test reports and supplier declarations, labelling samples, data reports and, for reuse, the system description. Set that up once properly and a request for information takes a day to answer.

Sources and status: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR). German Packaging Law Implementation Act (VerpackDG) of 13 July 2026, Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No. 207, in force since 12 August 2026, in particular Sections 66 and 68. German Act on Regulatory Offences, Section 17. Commission guidelines, OJ C/2026/3084. Commission FAQ on the PPWR. As at 26 September 2026. This article is not legal advice.

Photo: Ali Mkumbwa via Unsplash.