May 2025

Mandatory Authorised Representative requirement for foreign producers under Germany Batteries Act

What is happening?

From 18 August 2025, legal entities who are not established in Germany and place batteries on the German market must appoint an Authorised Representative (AR) in Germany to fulfil their Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations for batteries.

More detail: The German Batteries Act (‘BattG2’) was published in November 2020 and came into force in January 2021. It replaced the first EPR legislation for batteries in Germany, ‘BattG’.

When it came into force, BattG2 continued to allow companies based outside of Germany to register as a batteries producer in Germany (i.e. using foreign company details) directly with the new regulatory authority responsible for enforcement, Stifung EAR. Section 26 of BattG2 included a provision allowing foreign companies to appoint an AR to fulfil their producer obligations, but this was voluntary.

Stiftung EAR announced in 2025, that the appointment of an AR by foreign producers would change from a voluntary option to a mandatory requirement from 18 August 2025.  Appointment of an AR is already a requirement for foreign producers of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).

Why is this happening?

This update is one of the first steps to align German law with a multitude of changing EPR obligations under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 concerning batteries and waste batteries (known as the new ‘EU Batteries Regulation’ and coined in Germany as EU-BattVO). The EU Batteries Regulation requires producers who are not established in a Member State in which they place batteries on the market, to appoint an AR in that Member State to fulfil their EPR obligations for batteries.

More detail: On 12 July 2023, Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2023 concerning batteries and waste batteries (known as the new ‘EU Batteries Regulation’) came into force. Unlike Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators which it repeals and will fully replace, the EU Batteries Regulation applies equally to all EU Member States.

Chapter VIII ‘Management of waste batteries’ of the EU Batteries Regulation applies from 18 August 2025. Article 55 within Chapter VIII requires a ‘register of producers’ to be established in each EU Member State. Each producer, or their ‘Authorised Representative for producer responsibility’, is required to submit an application to the register. An ‘Authorised Representative for producer responsibility’ is a natural or legal person established in an EU Member State where a batteries producer places batteries on the market, but where the producer itself is not established, and so fulfils the obligations on behalf of the producer under Chapter VIII.

This is not unique to Germany, but Germany is one of the first EU Member States to align their law to the specific AR requirements of the EU Batteries Regulation. Other EU Member States will ultimately follow suit and make changes within national legislation and policy to align with these new AR requirements and other provisions of the EU Batteries Regulation.

What does this mean for you?

If your company places batteries on the German market from 18 August 2025 and is not established in Germany, you must appoint an AR in Germany to fulfil your company’s Extended Producer EPR obligations for batteries.

More detail: Companies with an existing foreign registered producer with have their existing batteries registration automatically cancelled on 18 August 2025 and will be deleted from the batteries register by Stiftung EAR.

Such companies should have already been contact by Stiftung EAR, to check that they continue to have no legal presence in Germany through which an application for registration can be alternatively submitted. If not, then to remain legally compliant for the batteries which the foreign company places on the market in Germany, action must be action to appoint an AR to submit a new batteries registration to Stiftung EAR.

There is a risk of legal issues, stop-sells and financial penalties in the case of non-compliance.

What else should producers be aware of?

This is just one of the changes in EPR requirements coming about due to the application of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. As mentioned, other EU Member States will follow suit in the run up to 18 August 2025 and beyond.

In terms of EPR requirements, all producer registrations (not just those through an AR) will also need to include further details such as:

1. Which of the five new battery categories (portable batteries; starting, lighting and ignition batteries; light means of transport batteries; electric vehicle batteries and industrial batteries) their batteries fall under;
2. The chemical composition of these batteries; and
3. The producer company’s VAT registration number

In Germany specifically, every batteries producer will also have to join an Organisation for Producer Responsibility (OfH) towards the end of 2025, regardless of whether they currently have an individual take-back solution in place or have previously joined a batteries compliance scheme in Germany.

How can EARN help?

If you are a foreign company placing batteries on the market in Germany, EARN can act as your AR to register your company as a batteries producers in Germany and handle all of your registration, reporting and OfH membership requirements on your behalf.

EARN is also a long established AR for EEE producers, so we can help you meet both your foreign producer EEE and batteries obligations in Germany.

As all EU Member States will also ultimately require foreign producers to appoint an AR, EARN can source an appropriate AR to register your company as a batteries producers other countries that your company placed batteries on the market.  EARN’s managed compliance services can also handle other EPR requirements unique to each country, such as joining and reporting compliance data to a local Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) or equivalent and providing a waste batteries (as well as WEEE) take-back and recycling service.

Get in touch for more information.