Interzero -Where licensingand authorisationmeet sustainability

The authorized representative takes responsibility for all obligations resulting from the legal framework conditions of the foreign supplier.

All obligations can be found in the Austrian Packaging Ordinance, Waste Electrical Equipment Ordinance and Austrian Battery Ordinance.

Foreign mail order companies without a registered office in Austria that deliver packaging, goods or packaged goods to private end consumers in Austria within the framework of distance selling are obliged to appoint an authorized representative in Austria for packaging placed on the market from 1 January 2023.

This also applies to companies that have a registered office in another Member State of the European Union and that want to assume the advance obligation for packaging for their Austrian corporate customers. These companies must appoint an authorized representative; without an authorized representative the advance obligation is not possible.

These regulations also apply to companies that sell electrical appliances and batteries in Austria.

If you don’t sell directly to private end consumers in Austria, you don’t have to license the packaging. In this case, the obligation falls on your Austrian corporate customers. Please inform your (corporate) customers in Austria that the packaging delivered to them is not licensed. Your customers must then decide for themselves how to proceed. They can either personally declare the waste of the transport packaging to the Ministry as their own import, or they can hand the packaging over to an EPR system like Interzero.

Please note: You may be asked to take over the pre-licensing. In this case, the authorization is relevant again.

Yes, you do. Licensing of packaging, WEEE and batteries for a company without a registered office in Austria is only possible by prior appointing an authorized representative in Austria, this is independent of the actual quantity you put on the market. You have the option of choosing the flat rate if the yearly quantity is less than 1,500 kg (both in the household and commercial) in the packaging segment.

For WEEE there are two flat rate options available depending on the quantity. Either below 300 kg or 1,000 kg.

Batteries are divided into categories, therefore we offer flat rates for each category.

The authorized representative is a legal representative for your packaging, WEEE and batteries, who must assume your obligations. (You’ll find detailed information on the obligations in the next question.) Keeping in mind your obligations, we recommend that you choose your authorized representative carefully. Interzero is a partner you can trust.

In principle, any natural or legal person can be appointed as an authorized representative, as long as the following criteria are met:

• Registered office in Austria (domestic mailing address)
• Notarised power of attorney must be signed
• Registered with the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK)

further information

No, no matter how high the quantity you place on the market is, in Austria the licensing of packaging, waste electrical and electronic equipment and batteries is mandatory. If you are not based in Austria, you must also appoint an authorized representative.

If you have already appointed one and are still looking for a collection and recycling system, you can also conclude a license agreement with us.

You have the option of choosing the all-inclusive solutions, which are also of interest to small-scale distributors.

All obligations can be found in the respective ordinances.

Packaging: see §§ 16a to 16d of the Packaging Ordinance. (Verpackungs-VO)
Batteries: §§ 25a to 25c Batteries Ordinance (Batterien-VO)
Waste electrical and electronic equipment: § 13a Waste Management Act 2002 (AWG 2002), §§ 21a to 21c WEEE Ordinance

Yes. The regulations for the authorized representative stipulate that the authorized representative must be a natural or legal person domiciled in Austria (e.g. Packaging Regulation, Sections 16a to 16d).

Subsidiary branches that are established within Austria, must be registered in the commercial register. However, they do not have their own legal personality. Instead, the legal entity remains the natural or legal person behind the main office.

Yes, it’s mandatory for foreign companies/individuals without a registered office in Austria to appoint an authorized representative to continue licensing in Austria in accordance with the law.

But as a registered customer it’s even easier, as you just need to add the “product” via the well-known Reporting portal –> Interzero Meldeportal: Users (interzero-austria.com)

If you added a correct email address to the system, you can go to the login page (Interzero Meldeportal: Users (interzero-austria.com) and click on ‘Forgot password?’. You’ll be able to see the first 4 characters of the email address via which you’ll receive a new password. In case this email address isn’t correct, please contact us at: kundenberatung@interzero.at.

If you distribute packaging in Austria, you’ll need an authorized representative with a registered office in Austria from 1 January 2023.

You’ve needed an authorized representative for the licensing segments of WEEE and batteries since 2018 and 2019. Are you legally compliant?

As soon as you have a contract that is notarised, the authorization is valid until the contract is dissolved. Please refer to your authorised representative with any questions about the validity of the contract.

Please upload your documents to your customer account, or send them to us via email as PDF files. Providing us with hard copies of contractual documentation will lead to a longer processing time. 

As soon as you’re an active customer of Interzero, you can access the Confirmation of Participation at any time in our online portal under the respective year and segment. 

Once you upload your Authorized Representative Contract in your customer account, and after this has been processed by our Service Team, we can send you the Licence Partner Number. You can also find it on the Confirmation of Participation in your customer account.

As a foreign company, the authorized representative will act as an intermediary between you and an Austrian EPR system, like Interzero. After concluding your Authorized Representative Contract, a licensing agreement for your required licensing area is automatically concluded with Interzero. This involves no further action on your end.

As a foreign company, you don’t just need an authorized representative for packaging since 1 January of 2023 but also for certain products made of disposable plastic. Please get in touch if you distribute any of the following disposable plastics:

• Balloons: Excluding balloons for industrial or other commercial purposes and applications, and which aren’t supplied to consumers.
• Fishing gear: Fishing gear comprises every device or piece of equipment that is used in fisheries or aquaculture to locate, catch or rear biological aquatic resources or, if used as flotation devices on the surface of the sea, to lure and catch, or to breed such biological aquatic resources.
• Wet wipes: Moistened wipes for home and personal care
• Tobacco products: Tobacco products within the meaning of Sec. 1 Z 1 of the Tobacco and Non-Smoker Protection Act

The exact provisions on contract withdrawal and cancellation are set out in our Terms and Conditions. By law, there is no right of withdrawal in the B2B sector.

Please note: If you wish to cancel your order, we will charge you the processing fees incurred. You will be refunded the amount less the processing fees. After confirmation, it can take 5-10 business days for the refund to be processed.

The authorization fee can be paid in advance. Current payment methods are: Klarna, Credit Card, Alipay and SOFORT

In addition, we offer purchase on account. You’ll find the terms of payment on the invoice sent to you.

Payment of the Licensing Agreement is currently only possible via invoice. You’ll receive the invoice after signing the contract.

Any officially registered notary can carry out the notarisation. You also have the option to perform the notarisation electronically via Notarity.

In Germany also municipalities are allowed to issue the power of attorney.

Only the signature on the power of attorney has to be notarised, not the copy.

The notarisation of the signature on the power of attorney must be issued in the official languages German or English. Notarisations that aren’t issued in German or English must be translated by a sworn translator or by the notary involved.

Please upload your documents to your customer account, or send them to us via email as PDF files. Providing us with hard copies of contractual documentation will lead to a longer processing time. 

No, we don’t need the original copy of the power of attorney. Kindly send us a digital version of your documentation, so that we don’t have to scan the documents for further processing. 

Notarisations that aren’t issued in German or English must be translated by a sworn translator or by the notary involved. 

Yes, the notarisation of the appointment of the authorized representative is required by Austrian law.

You can find more information about this in the Austrian Abfallwirtschaftsgesetz (Waste Management Act). Please ask your notary to complete this step, or make use of the digital service offered by Notarity.

At Notarity, you have access to more than 200 notaries, and most of them are available within 24 hours. More information on Notarity is available at notarity.com/faq. Please contact Notarity by email at info@notarity.com with any questions you may have, or phone: +43 (0)1 412 01 48.

A foreign manufacturer is any person within the meaning of Sec. 12b Para. 2 AWG (Waste Management Act) 2002, who distributes packaging in Austria to consumers others than private end consumers, or any person who sells disposable plastic products commercially in Austria to other than private end consumers and (ii) has a registered office in another Member State of the European Union. 

A foreign mail order company (packaging) is any natural or legal person without a registered office or branch in Austria that delivers packaging, goods or packaged goods to private end consumers in Austria within the framework of distance selling as set out in Sec. 5a KSchG. 

A foreign distance seller (disposable plastic products) is any person who sells disposable plastic products, excluding packaging, directly to private end consumers in Austria on a commercial basis and by means of distance communication, and is established in another Member State of the European Union or in a non-member country. 

As soon as you’re an active customer of Interzero, you can find your Interzero License Partner number in our online portal under the respective year and segment. In case you can’t find this information, please contact us via kundenberatung@interzero.at

Once you’ve concluded your contract with Interzero, paid the fee, and you’ve been registered as a participant, you can download the confirmation in the service section of our reporting portal.

Payment of the Licensing Agreement is currently only possible via invoice. You’ll receive the invoice after signing the contract.

The authorisation fee can be paid in advance, and for this you can use your credit card or the Sofort payment service. In addition, we offer purchase on account. You’ll find the terms of payment on the invoice sent to you.

Payment of the Licensing Agreement is currently only possible via invoice. You’ll receive the invoice after signing the contract.

The reporting period is defined on the basis of the respective provisions and specifies the frequency of your reporting obligations. It also forms the basis for the authorized representative fee for foreign customers.

The calculation is based on the quantities placed on the market in tons multiplied by €. Please go to ’More information – Downloads’ for an up-to-date list of rates

Annual report: <€1,500
Quarterly report: Between €1,500 and €20,000
Monthly report: >€20,000

When the contract is created, your licence fee is automatically calculated on the basis of the entered quantities.

The quantity reports are due on the 15th of the month following the reporting period (e.g. the report for January is due on 15 February, the report for the first quarter is due on 15 April and the annual report is due on 15 January in the following year).

Please use our online portal https://onlineportal.interzero-austria.com/. We’ll provide you with login credentials for our portal while the contract is being processed.

You may correct the declared quantities for monthly and quarterly reports on an ongoing basis as part of the Annual Statement until 15 March of the following year.

However, annual reports need to be submitted by 15 January of the following year, after which it’s not possible to correct the declared quantities.

The invoice will be sent to the email address you provided. In case you have a different billing address, please let us know during the order process.

People paying a flat rate and annual reporters must pay the fee within 14 days of receipt of the invoice in order to be registered as a system participant.

Monthly and quarterly reporters will receive their invoices within two weeks of submitting their last reports.