In order to guarantee their obligation to take back and recover such packaging, manufacturers of packaging subject to system participation do not need to participate in an officially established take-back system under certain conditions if they provide prior evidence, in the form of a certificate from an expert, in particular of the establishment of a suitable industry-related collection structure at all points of collection supplied and of the future recovery of the sales packaging collected in these structures in accordance with the Packaging Act (industry solution).
In addition, manufacturers of packaging subject to system participation must generally submit annual declarations of completeness regarding the sales packaging and secondary packaging placed on the market for the first time in the previous calendar year. And alternatively (instead of, for example, by a tax consultant), they must also have this checked and certified by an expert within the meaning of the Packaging Act.
Furthermore, (take-back) systems must document the recovery of the collected packaging on a calendar year basis (volume flow verification). The volume flow verification must be checked and certified by a registered expert.
These obligations are fulfilled if only the experts listed by the central office in the inspector register are commissioned with the inspection and certification. These experts include, on the one hand, experts who have been publicly appointed for packaging disposal in accordance with § 36 of the Industrial Code. However, such experts also include experts established in other EU/EEA countries who only temporarily and occasionally wish to carry out the expert activities provided for in the Packaging Act in Germany, if their sufficient professional qualification for this has been verified and confirmed by the public body responsible for the public appointment of such experts.