EPR · WEEE Germany
WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE: what the number is, and how to check one
A German WEEE number looks like **WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE 12345678**: the country code DE followed by eight digits. It is issued by stiftung ear, the register that runs Germany's ElektroG scheme, and it is granted to one company for one brand and one equipment type, not to a product. Any number can be checked for free in stiftung ear's public register of producers and authorised representatives, by number, by company name or by brand. What you receive when a registration is granted is a *Registrierungsbescheid*, a registration order sent by email, which is where most of the confusion about a WEEE certificate comes from.
Assuro connects to Shopify. The guidance below applies whatever platform you sell on.
- 1
Register
in the national registry
- 2
License
your volumes and pay fees
- 3
Report
those volumes each year
What the number is, part by part
The format is the two-letter country code DE followed by an eight-digit sequence, written out as WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE 12345678. The digits carry no meaning you can decode: they are not a category code, not a date, and not a checksum you can validate offline. The only way to establish that a number is real, and that it belongs to the company quoting it, is to look it up.
One number does not describe one product. Section 6(1) ElektroG grants a registration to a producer for a brand and an equipment type (*Geräteart*), and the equipment type is finer than the six categories in Section 2 — stiftung ear keeps its own list, with separate types for household and business equipment. A company selling lamps and small speakers under one brand therefore holds a registration in each relevant type, and each of those entries appears separately in the public register.
A WEEE number is national
A DE number is an ElektroG registration and covers Germany only. France, Spain, Austria and the rest each run their own WEEE register, with their own number formats and their own rules for foreign sellers. A DE number quoted on a listing says nothing about any other market.
How to check a WEEE number, free
stiftung ear publishes every registration in a public register, the *Verzeichnis der registrierten Hersteller und registrierten Bevollmächtigten*, reachable from the ear portal. It is free and needs no account, and it is the authoritative source: a producer appears in it once the registration order has been issued, and it is what a distributor or an online marketplace checks before listing someone else's equipment.
The register searches on several fields, and which one you use depends on what you are trying to establish.
| Search field | Use it when you want to know |
|---|---|
| WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE | Whether a quoted number exists, and which company and brand it belongs to |
| Hersteller-/Bevollmächtigtenname | Whether a named company is registered at all, and under which brands |
| Marke | Which company holds the registration for a brand you are about to sell |
| Kategorie and Geräteart | Whether an existing registration actually covers the type of equipment in question |
| Postleitzahl, Bundesland | Where the registered company or its authorised representative sits |
A result row shows the producer or authorised representative name, the postcode, the federal state, the WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE, the brand, the category and the equipment type. It also shows market exit dates where they apply, and that is the field most people miss: a registration that has been ended for a given equipment type still appears in the register, so a number that was good last year is not automatically good today.
The three checks that actually matter
A number existing is not the same as a number covering the sale in front of you. Check that the registration is held by the company that is placing the goods on the German market, that it names the brand on the product, and that it names the equipment type the product falls into. A real number belonging to the wrong company, brand or type protects nobody.
What a WEEE certificate is, and is not
People search for a WEEE certificate because a marketplace, a freight forwarder or a business customer has asked them to produce one. What stiftung ear issues when a registration is granted is a *Registrierungsbescheid*, a registration order sent by email, naming the producer or authorised representative, the brand and the equipment type. It is an administrative decision. It is not a certificate of conformity, not a test report and not a quality mark, and it is the document to send when somebody asks for proof of registration.
In practice the number plus the register entry is stronger evidence than the document, because the register is current while an emailed order is a snapshot of the day it was issued. If a supplier sends a PDF and nothing else, look the number up before relying on it.
Why a supplier's number does not become yours
This is the most expensive misreading of the number. Section 3 no. 9(d) ElektroG makes a producer of anyone who offers electrical equipment directly to end users in Germany using means of distance communication while established in another EU Member State or a third country. A US, UK or Dutch Shopify store shipping a speaker to a customer in Munich is a producer in its own right, whoever manufactured the speaker. A registration is granted to a specific company, so the factory's number, the brand owner's number and your wholesaler's number all stay theirs. Our guide to WEEE registration in Germany for foreign sellers covers how to get your own, including the German authorised representative a distance seller must appoint under Section 8(2).
The rule runs the other way too. Section 6(2) says equipment of an unregistered producer may not be offered by distributors, may not be listed by online marketplaces, and may not be stored, packed or shipped by fulfilment providers. That is why marketplaces ask for the number at all, and why they check it against the register rather than taking a seller's word for it.
Where the number has to appear once you have one
Section 6(3) requires a producer to state its registration number when offering the equipment and on invoices. Offering is defined in Section 3 no. 6 as presenting or making equipment publicly accessible with a view to concluding a sale, which is exactly what a Shopify product page does. So the number belongs in each product offer and on every invoice to a German customer. Putting it in the legal notice as well is fine, and replaces neither.
- Read the number as DE plus eight digits; nothing in the digits can be decoded offline
- Look every number up in stiftung ear's free public register before relying on it
- Match the register entry against the company, the brand and the equipment type of the actual sale
- Check the market exit date, because ended registrations still appear
- Ask for the Registrierungsbescheid if you want the document, but trust the register over the PDF
- Put your own number in every German product offer and on every German invoice
How Assuro helps
Assuro connects to your Shopify store, records the WEEE registration numbers you hold against the brands and equipment types they were granted for, and flags the products in your catalogue that fall outside them — alongside the packaging, battery and GPSR gaps for the same item. It keeps the number on the products that have to display it, so a listing does not go live without one. Assuro organises and flags; it does not register you, act as your authorised representative, or issue any certificate. Scan your store free to see which products are exposed.
Frequently asked questions
What does a WEEE number look like in Germany?
WEEE-Reg.-Nr. DE followed by eight digits, for example DE 12345678. The digits are a sequence rather than an encoded category or a checksum, so a number can only be verified by looking it up.
How do I check whether a WEEE number is valid?
Search it in stiftung ear's public register of registered producers and authorised representatives. It is free and needs no account. Check that the entry names the company placing the goods on the German market, the brand on the product and the equipment type, and check the market exit date, because ended registrations still appear.
Is there such a thing as a WEEE certificate?
Not as a certificate of conformity. stiftung ear issues a Registrierungsbescheid, a registration order sent by email when the registration is granted, naming the producer or authorised representative, the brand and the equipment type. That is the document to send when someone asks for proof, though the public register is the more current evidence.
Can I use my supplier's WEEE number on my listings?
Not as a foreign store shipping directly to German consumers. Section 3 no. 9(d) ElektroG makes you a producer in your own right, and a registration is granted to a specific company for a specific brand and equipment type. Your supplier's number stays theirs.
Does one WEEE number cover all my products?
Only those sold under the brand and in the equipment type the registration names. A company can hold several registrations, and the register lists each brand-and-type entry separately, so a catalogue spanning lamps and small IT equipment needs an entry for each.
Is a German WEEE number valid in other EU countries?
No. It is a national ElektroG registration covering Germany only. Every other EU country runs its own WEEE register, with its own number format and its own rules for foreign sellers.
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