Germany to impose a plastics tax in 2024"
Release time:
2023-10-11
On May 11, 2023, the German legislature passed the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act, or EWKFondsG, requiring producers of plastic products to contribute to efforts to remove plastic waste.
After Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries have imposed plastic taxes, Germany also followed by its own "plastic tax".
On May 11, 2023, the German legislature passed the Single-Use Plastics Fund Act, or EWKFondsG, requiring producers of plastic products to contribute to efforts to remove plastic waste.
Recently, the German Federal Parliament approved the EWKFondsG. The bill will determine the tax rate and payment system of the fund, and will be levied on January 1, 2024, with the first payment in 2025.
EU legal background
With the launch of the EU Green Deal on 11 December 2019, the European Commission has set out a package of measures to achieve economic and social transformation in a climate-neutral and sustainable way by 2050. The package covers all policy areas, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or decarbonizing the energy sector, and promoting a circular economy. The latter implies, on the one hand, the creation of incentives for climate-neutral and recycled non-polluting products and, on the other hand, the provision of major compensatory measures for disposable products that are harmful to the environment.
To this end, in the EU's relations with the Member States, the EU/Euratom Board of Governors decision of 14 December 2020 introduced the EU Plastics Tax. In addition, pursuant to Directive 904 of 5 June 2019, the EU has laid down a framework for the implementation of measures by member states to reduce the environmental impact of certain plastic products under the so-called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Germany implements the directive through EWKFondsG.
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EWKFondsG aim to avoid and reduce the impact of certain single-use plastic products on the environment and human health, and to promote innovative and sustainable business models, products and materials.
In order to achieve this goal, the market behavior of the obligated party will be regulated. To this end, the law provides for the establishment of a single-use plastics fund, which will be managed by the Umweltbundesamt(UBA, the German Federal Environment Agency), which will be used to help solve the waste in the public domain environment.
The scope of application of the EWKFondsG covers the sale of some single-use plastic products (EWK), which are composed in whole or in part of plastics (ie polymers). The focus is on EWK in the food sector, such as food containers with and without lids, film packaging with up to 3 liters of food or beverage containers or beverage cups. Lightweight plastic shopping bags, as well as certain wet wipes, balloons, tobacco filters, and fireworks starting in 2026.
The above-mentioned levy rate and the quantity placed on the market in each case determine the specific charges of the manufacturer concerned.
Enterprises must report the range of plastics involved in the business before May 15, 2025, indicating the use or sales of disposable plastic products in the previous year, which need to be divided into plastic varieties and quality. The exemption covers producers with a distribution volume of less than 100kg in a year, or enterprises that started only in the bottle deposit business in the previous year.
Depending on the type of violation, penalties will be imposed. For example, the German Federal Environment Agency has the right to judge if the annual report is insufficient or inadequate. If the tax payable is delayed for more than three days, a late payment fee of 1% will be levied above the minimum. A wilful or negligent breach of the registration or reporting obligation is an administrative offence punishable by a fine of up to € 100,000.
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