Pursuant to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) every manufacturer is obliged to provide annual evidence of an insolvency-proof guarantee for financing the collection and disposal of the electrical and electronic equipment put into circulation after 24 November 2005 and which may be used in private households.

The term manufacturers also includes dealers or importers who first introduce the equipment to the area in which the law is applicable (so-called "quasi manufacturers").

Without proper registration manufacturers are no longer allowed to market their products! Further informationen on guarantees can be found at our homepage under ElektroG/WEEE and at the homepage of stiftung ear.

stiftung ear is the "National Clearing House" within the meaning of ElektroG/WEEE. Thus stiftung ear carries out all the functions required by law for the implementation of the ElektroG: registration of manufacturers of WEEE as well as coordination of pick-up requests and the pick-up of WEEE from the public collecting points all over Germany. For further information please see: www.stiftung-ear.de (German).

The guarantee amount for the volume of equipment you sell is calculated as follows:

• Guarantee amount [€] = basic registration sets [t] x expected return quotas [%]
                                              x expected treatment/disposal costs [€/t]

The basic registration set (planned quanity in tons) is the net weight of your marketed products. The values for the expected return quotas and the expected disposal costs vary according to the type of equipment. So you must take care to classify the equipment you sell in the correct product categories. Guidelines on how to do this are given in the non-exclusive (examples of equipment) listing in Annex 1 of the ElektroG. 

The formula for the calculation of the guarantee amount and the values of the expected return quotas and expected disposal costs have all been fixed in the rules of stiftung ear (data for the computation of the guarantee amount - German).

The average service life for devices of a particular type of equipment is also specified. This is used as a basis on which to calculate how long a Guarantee Certificate must be maintained for the amount of equipment placed on the market.

A subscription to the WEEE Guarantee System means that you do not make advance payment of the small sums for risk protection for the whole of the average service life period, but rather on a year-to-year basis for the amount of equipment still in circulation. This gives positive interest effects unlike other guarantee systems based on pre-financing.

You can also check with our Guarantee Amount Calculator.

Yes. The WEEE Guarantee System resp. the WEEE-FULL-SERVICE covers all types of equipment of the following categories:

• Large household appliances 
• Small household appliances 
• IT and telecommunications equipment 
• Consumer equipment 
• Lighting equipment 
• Electrical and electronic tools 
• Toys, leisure and sports equipment 
• Medical equipment 
• Monitoring and control instruments

So you only need to address your questions about the guarantee to one single partner, no matter which products or how many different types of equipment you sell.

Please fill out the inquiry and return it to us.

The WEEE-FULL-SERVICE consists of three modules:

• WEEE Guarantee System (GSA): Insolvency-proof guarantee 
• Notification Service: Assumption of all registration duties towards stiftung ear 
• Disposal Conditions: Purchasing syndicate for attractive disposal prices

With the WEEE-FULL-SERVICE we provide you a carefree all-round package giving you the best possible reduction in workload. Of course, you can also combine the modules individually.

The WEEE Guarantee System by Bitkom Servicegesellschaft offers you a procedure recognised by stiftung ear and in line with section 6 Para. 3 of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG) requiring default-proof coverage of your guarantee obligations. Bitkom Servicegesellschaft manages the GSA and is therefore the contact for guarantee issues. In a guarantee case it acts as a fiduciary towards stiftung ear. The external financial partner for securing the risk is Zurich Versicherung AG. Every manufacturer pays a share of a small premium for the collective financing of a surety insurance. The warranty sum itself need not be paid. The outflow of liquidity is thus clearly reduced without straining the line of credit.

Further information about your benefits and our price structure are listed here. For calculating your annual fees you can also use our Subscription Calculator . We will be pleased to send you a non-committal individual offer.

The WEEE Guarantee System is open to German and foreign interested companies from all industry sectors and for all kinds of equipment. Participation does not depend on a membership of BITKOM e.V.

Changing over to the WEEE Guarantee System is easily possible at any time. We also insure backdated periods for you, and no retrospective administrative fee has to be paid. As soon as the guarantees in the ear-system have been approved, fiduciary agreements and bank accounts can be dissolved. If you also book our Notification Service, we take care of the exchange of guarantees in the ear-system for you.

Please contact us to help you check your saving potentials!

In general one can say that there are several deadlines and reports to consider. The WEEE-FULL-SERVICE allows us to cosult you profoundly and above all - it allows us to assume a bigger part of your duties resulting from the ElektroG (see the graph on the Division of tasks).

Before you start marketing your equipment, the master registration and, for additional brands or types of equipment, the supplementary registrations must be carried out in the ear-system. stiftung ear specifies an approximate checking period of 6 to 8 weeks. You should therefore submit your applications early enough.

The guarantees we provide to you must be recorded in the ear-system during the registration process. At that time the guarantees apply to the quantities you intend to market (planned quantity for master registration).

In the course of the year the actually marketed quantities during the previous month must then be reported by the 15th of each month for each registration. The tonnage recorded in this manner is relevant for the level of the disposal obligation and the guarantee amount to be deposited. If no monthly report is provided, the estimated quantities are recorded by stiftung ear.

After the expiry of a year the sum of the 12 monthly reports results in the actual marketed quantity. As long as the guarantee amount based on the planned quantity has not been exceeded, any adjustment of the guarantee amount is voluntary. If the planned quantity is exceeded, the deposited guarantee amount must be increased and the record adjusted accordingly in the ear-system. Please note that a change of the guarantee amount in the ear-system is chargeable. Please contact us to let us check whether such a change is reasonable!

Guarantee certificates have a duration of one calender year and must be updated at the end of each year. For this purpose you should provide us with your planned quantities for the subsequent year by 31 October of the current year. We will, of course, remind you ahead of this deadline. As soon as the new guarantee certificates have been issued, they can be recorded in the ear-system. The planned quantities for your update registration must be recorded by 31 December of the current year.

There are further reports as well, f.e. the final report at the end of the year concerning your disposal.

To complete your registration with stiftung ear you have to turn in a photo, which shows that your product is labeled with a brand.

Furthermore, the crossed-out trashcan with the black bar beneath has to be on the product. Exceptionally, it can also be brought on the packaging or the manuals (§ 7 ElektroG).

Once your registration is approved by stiftung ear, you have to apply your WEEE-registration number in written business intercourse (§ 6 Abs. 2 ElektroG).

No. The documents are forwarded by us to stiftung ear, to enable stiftung ear to check the data input.

The Notification Service can be booked by every participant of the WEEE Guarantee System. Simply send us an email  - we will accompany you during the following steps.

Bitkom Servicegesellschaft functions as main contact person towards stiftung ear. That way we can implement all necessary registrations and reports for you on time. Of course, we will forward all important information and reminders to you.

Further benefits are listed here.

The annual fee for one type of equipment is 350.00 €. Each additional type is charged with 125.00 €.

Entering into a disposal agreement is advisable for every manufacturer or quasi manufacturer, because stiftung ear can allocate a container at any time to the registered company as part of the collection coordination. To ensure that deadlines are not missed, the disposer should be recorded in the ear-system. Thus, the disposer automatically receives all the necessary information about the container to be collected.

Bitkom Servicegesellschaft negotiated framework contracts with NOEX AG and Stena Technoworld GmbH. Every manufacturer can use our Disposal Conditions. To subscribers of the WEEE Guarantee System these terms are of course available free of charge. For some types of equipment you even receive a credit note - please contact us for the concrete terms.

When selecting disposers high priority has been given to top quality. NOEX AG and Stena Technoworld GmbH not only meet the legal requirements, they also convince by ecologically sensible recycling and sustainability.

This way we guarantee total reliability of our disposal partners and offer most attractive prices - a direct benefit for you. Please check here for further benefits!

You market up to 1 ton per type of equipment during one year? In that case we can support you with our WEEE-FULL-SERVICE during the registration process on especially attractive terms. Learn more!

If such an event occurs, the WEEE Guarantee System is a reliable partner at your side because as trustees we take care of all transactions involved in the guarantee process from verifying the validity of the claims to ensuring that safe disposal of waste equipment is in place.

A market retirement occurs when a company discontinues marketing equipment with mandatory registration. Please inform both the team of the WEEE Guarantee System and stiftung ear.

Please inform both the team of the WEEE Guarantee System and stiftung ear. With stiftung ear's confirmation that your registration can continue using the existing registration number, the guarantee certificates can be reissued with the new corporate name.

Please also contact us in case of mergers etc. We like to support you throughout the process.