Additional brands in EPR: what is included and where it is charged

One brand name is included in each country you register. Each further brand name you sell in that country is an additional-brand line. It is an Eldris registration fee for entering that name with the register or scheme, not a government levy, and it is charged per year. The line appears for each of the 27 EU member states; its price is on the pricing page. Registers ask for brand names because the law does: Directive 2012/19/EU, Article 16(2)(b), points to Annex X, which lists the brand name. Enter only the brands sold there.

Why registers ask for brand names

For electronics and batteries, the brand name is a registration detail set by EU law, not by Eldris. Annex X of the WEEE Directive lists it among the details a producer gives on registering. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, Article 55(3)(a) asks for the brand names, if available, under which a battery producer operates in that Member State.

Directive 2012/19/EU, Article 16(1), requires each Member State to keep a register of producers. A producer selling at a distance registers in the country it sells to. Article 16(2)(b) says what goes in: the details in Annex X, Part A, which the producer undertakes to keep up to date. Point 5 of that list is the brand name. Other points cover the category and type of equipment and how the producer meets its duties. Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 follows the same pattern. Under Article 55(2), a producer registers in each Member State where it first makes a battery available. The application then gives its brand names, if available, for that country. Germany's register for electronics and batteries, stiftung ear, records producers with their device types and brands. It issues a WEEE registration number before the equipment is placed on the market. So each register holds the brand names sold in its own country.

Which registrations carry the additional-brand line

The additional-brand line appears on the Eldris price list for each of the 27 EU member states. Norway and the United Kingdom have none. The line belongs to the country, not to one stream: the calculator adds it per further brand name in each country you register, whatever streams you hold there.

On the pricing page the line is listed under each country as Additional brand, after the stream lines. Its price differs from country to country. The calculator asks how many brand names you sell under, then prices the further names wherever the line exists. For electronics, Germany has two extra points, set out below.

A device category describes the type of equipment, while a brand is the name it is sold under. The two lines are counted separately.

What the line pays for, and what it does not

The additional-brand line is an Eldris registration fee for entering each further brand name with the register or scheme in that country. It is not a government levy, and it is not a scheme's recycling contribution. It is charged per year, like the registration it belongs to.

Sellers ask whether the fee is a statutory requirement. The duty to give brand names comes from the law, but the line itself is Eldris's charge for entering each further name. One brand name is included in each country you register, so a seller with a single brand pays no brand line. Fees set by a register, an authority or a compliance scheme follow their own tariffs. Some are included in a country's stream line, and those above the included amounts are passed on at cost. The published tariffs are on the scheme and authority fees page. Under the Terms, section 5.1, Eldris fees are one-off annual fees per country and per stream, with no monthly fees. Each country's registration runs for 12 months from the date that country confirms it. The brand lines for that country are charged with it each year. The short answer also sits with the other questions sellers ask on the EPR questions page.

Enter only the brands you sell in that country

Enter only the brand names you sell in each country. A brand sold in France but not in Germany is entered in France only. The number of brand lines can therefore differ from one country to the next.

Each register asks about its own market. For Germany, the Eldris portal asks for all brand names under which your electronics are sold there, written exactly as printed on the product. The reason is that stiftung ear registers per brand and device type. For Sweden, the portal asks for the trademarks or brand names of the electronics you sell there. Naturvårdsverket, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, asks for them with each electronics registration. Under Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, a battery application likewise gives the brand names, if available, under which the producer operates in that Member State. If a marketplace rejects a German WEEE number, check that the listing's brand matches a brand registered with stiftung ear. When you start selling a further brand in a country, tell Eldris before it goes on sale there. It then becomes one more brand line for that country. The pages on WEEE registration in Germany and on registering in Sweden list each country's lines.

Umbrella brands, product lines and distributors: still open for packaging

Whether several names count as one brand or several is confirmed inside the service, once you list them. For packaging the question is still open, so this guide gives no rule for umbrella brands, product lines or the brands a distributor sells.

The question comes up most with packaging. A company with one house brand and several product lines asks whether each line is a further brand. A distributor selling other companies' brands asks whose names it enters. For electronics, the portal's questions are the starting point: Germany wants every brand name as printed on the product, and Sweden wants the trademarks. For packaging, how names are counted for the additional-brand line has not been settled. The German portal does carry an optional question on brand names printed on packaging, where they differ from the product brands. The practical step is the same either way. List every name you sell under, country by country, when you reply to your quote or fill in the portal. Eldris then confirms which of them are entered as separate brands. How a producer outside Germany is admitted to stiftung ear is covered in the guide to the German WEEE authorised representative.

Frequently asked questions

Is the additional-brand fee a statutory charge?

No. It is an Eldris registration fee for entering each further brand name with the register or scheme in that country, not a government levy. Scheme and authority fees follow their own tariffs, which are published on the scheme and authority fees page.

How many brand names does the price include?

One brand name in each country you register. The additional-brand line starts with the second name you sell in that country and applies to each further name. A seller with a single brand never pays it.

Is the brand line paid once or every year?

Every year. It is charged per year with the country's registration, which runs for 12 months from the date that country confirms it. The price for each country is on the pricing page.

Do Norway and the UK charge for further brands?

Not on the Eldris price list. The additional-brand line appears for each of the 27 EU member states, and the calculator adds none for Norway or the United Kingdom.

Can I add a brand after I have registered?

Tell Eldris before the new brand goes on sale in that country. The name is entered with the register or scheme there, and it becomes one more additional-brand line for that country, priced as shown on the pricing page.

Do product lines under one umbrella brand count as separate brands?

For packaging this is not yet settled, so this page gives no rule. List every name you sell under in each country, and Eldris confirms inside the service which of them are entered as separate brands.