Do you need a packaging licence?

Question

Accepted Answer

There is no such licence. What sellers call a packaging licence is really two things: an entry in a country's packaging register, and a paid contract with a recycling scheme. Which ones you need depends on where you sell. Germany started it. German law makes you pay a scheme for your packaging, and the German word for that contract translates as licensing, so guides talk about a packaging licence. Compliance companies sell "packaging licensing" as a service, which keeps the word alive. No country issues an actual licence document for ordinary packaging. There is nothing to frame on the wall. In the UK: nothing under £1 million turnover or 25 tonnes of packaging a year. Above that, you register and report on GOV.UK — see our Defra EPR question. In most EU countries: an entry in the national packaging register plus a scheme contract, from the first parcel. Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark and Poland all have no minimum. The register entry is the part with legal force. Selling unregistered is what blocks listings and draws fines — not the lack of a licence, because there is no licence. When Amazon or another marketplace asks for your packaging licence number, it means a registration number. Germany: your LUCID number. France: your IDU from the ADEME register. Poland: your BDO number. There is no EU-wide number. One country, one registration, one number. Our free checker asks where you sell and lists which registrations apply, country by country, with sources.

Do you need a packaging licence?

Why everyone says licence

What you actually need

The numbers marketplaces ask for

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