Annual report

Once a year – generally in February – you will be requested by stiftung ear to submit an annual report by the 30th of April of the year for the respective prior year (report year). After expiration of this time limit all amount reports will be collected by stiftung ear, checked and subsequently forwarded to the German Environment Agency. The German Environment Agency then forwards the data to the European Commission.

By submitting your reports, you are contributing substantially to fulfilling the collection and recovery targets determined by the EU. Non-submitted reports have a negative effect on these targets and can lead to the Federal Republic of Germany having to pay penalty payment to the EU, that will in the end be paid by tax money and therefore affect all of us. 

Here we have some practical advice and notes on the annual report.

1. Who has an obligation to report as a producer and how is the reporting submitted?

Every producer/authorised representative registered in the reporting year is obligated to submit an annual report, even if the registration has already been revoked at the time of reporting. 

Submit the annual report directly in the ear-portal. Please remember to complete the annual report after recording all data. There is an extra button for this. When you have completed the annual statistics report you can process the recorded data until the submission period has ended using the appropriate buttons at any time and thereby correct it. 

2. Terminology

Within the framework of the annual report the following terms have been defined with the German Environment Agency to mean as stated below:

• Waste equipment prepared for re-use and recycled: This means waste equipment that is prepared by examination, cleansing or repair for renewed utilisation in the economic cycle (preparation for re-use), as well as waste equipment that is reworked into products, materials or substances either for the original utilisation or other utilisation (material recovery or respectively recycling). The amount covers amounts prepared for re-use and recycled both in Germany, as well as in other EU and non-EU countries. Point of reference is the submitted weight to the last facility in the treatment chain, the result of which is the successful preparation for re-use or completed recycling. 
• Recovered waste equipment: This means the sum of waste equipment to be prepared for re-use, materialy processed and to be fed into the economic cycle (recycling) and/or to be used in other recovery options (e.g. energetic recovery and backfilling). The amount covers recovered amounts both in Germany, as well as in EU and non-EU countries. Point of reference is the submitted weight to the last facility in the treatment chain, the result of which is the successful preparation for re-use or completed recycling.
• Disposed of waste equipment: Waste equipment amounts, or respectively the amount of fractions from waste equipment treatment that are not fed into preparation for re-use or material or other recovery, but are disposed of (e.g. deposited). The amount covers disposed of amounts both in Germany, as well as in EU and non-EU countries.
• Waste equipment exported for treatment: This means the total amount of waste equipment that was exported for treatment. It is decisive in which state the primary treatment step of pollutant removal, or respectively preparation for re-use of the accepted untreated waste equipment, is taken. Preceding sorting steps, rearrangement etc. prior to pollutant removal, or respectively preparation for re-use, are not relevant. 

3. So-called Facility In-/Output 

‘Facility In-/Output‘ requests the summarised amounts at the firts treatment facility (see § 22 paragraph 3 ElektroG). The operators of a first treatment facility are obligated to summarise all collected data and submit it to you so that you can fulfill your obligation to submit the facility in-/output. This contains data from the further treatment and recovery facility that must be made available to the operator of the first treatment facility.