compliance teamThe German authorised representative: mandate, form and liability
Step 1
Confirm the duty applies
Step 2
Agree the German-language mandate
Step 3
Sign by hand or with a qualified signature
Step 4
Track the designation to confirmation
| Control | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|
| Scope | Entity, product, channel, stream and source |
| External action | Version, date, authorised filer and issued receipt |
| Maintenance | Source data, approval, invoice and next deadline |
The representative is deemed to be the producer
Section 5(3) VerpackDG says the authorised representative is deemed to be the producer and fulfils the producer duties in its own name. That covers concluding the dual-system contract, filing volume reports, filing completeness declarations, take-back duties and deposit-system participation.
Acting in its own name is not a formality. The representative is itself the addressee of the duties it assumes and of the fines attached to them, and duties accrued while the mandate ran survive its termination. A serious provider prices and insures for that; a cheap one has usually not read the sentence.
German language, and no click-to-sign
The mandate is a written authorisation in German. A bilingual version is allowed and the German version governs. It must be signed by both parties, either by hand or with a qualified electronic signature; the register treats a simple electronic signature as insufficient because German written form is not satisfied by a click.
This is the one step in the group of markets we serve where the usual electronic signing flow does not apply. Plan for either a qualified signature with identity verification, or a scanned wet-ink original, and check which one your signatory can actually complete before the pack is issued.
What the mandate never covers
Registration in the packaging register, and every later change to registration data, stays personal to the producer. The representative cannot perform it, and a third party that is not the appointed representative may perform neither the registration nor the volume reports.
The designation takes effect only when the central agency confirms it, and no processing time is published. After confirmation the representative appears publicly next to the producer in the producer register, which is both a shopfront and a permanent, visible statement of who is responsible.
Conclusion
Scope comes before a form. Connect the legal entity, its German establishment, the product, the sales channel and the EPR stream to the rule that actually applies.
Evidence must remain traceable. Keep source data, versions, approvals, filings, receipts and every record issued by an external body.
Third-party decisions are never guaranteed. The packaging register, the central agency, the dual systems and the marketplaces control their own procedures, timing and decisions.