If Amazon has suppressed your listings, or emailed you about extended producer responsibility (EPR), this guide is the fix. Amazon will not let you sell in Germany, France, Spain or Austria until you give it a valid EPR registration number for the products you list.
Below is how to get the right EPR number for each marketplace and enter it in Seller Central, so your listings go back up and stay up. It is written for anyone selling into the EU through Amazon, whether you are based in Europe or shipping in from outside it.
What you need before you start
Getting the number is mostly form-filling. What slows people down is not having the details ready, so pull three things together first.
You need your company details (legal name, address, and tax or VAT number), your product and packaging data (what each item is made of and what it weighs), and a list of the Amazon marketplaces you actually sell on.
That last list decides how many numbers you need, and the product data is what every register asks for.
Why Amazon asks for an EPR number
Under EPR rules, an online marketplace is not just a middleman. In several EU countries it has to check that the sellers on it are registered for the waste their products create, and it can be held responsible if they are not. So Amazon checks, and a listing without a valid number gets pulled.
For a sense of the scale behind these rules, we put numbers on how much waste Amazon produces across its packaging and operations.
That shapes the whole job into three moves. You get a number from each country's producer register, you enter it in Amazon Seller Central, and you keep it valid.
The catch is that there is no single European number. You do this per country you sell in, and per type of waste your products fall under (packaging, electronics, batteries, and so on), so a German number does nothing for your French listings.
Which Amazon marketplaces need an EPR number
Amazon enforces EPR on four marketplaces today. Each one wants a different number, from a different register, and checks different waste streams. Here is what each marketplace asks for.
| Amazon marketplace | Register and who issues the number | The number Amazon checks | Waste streams Amazon gates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Germany (amazon.de) | LUCID, run by the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister; stiftung ear for electronics and batteries | A 13-digit LUCID number for packaging, plus a stiftung ear number per other stream | Packaging, electronics, batteries |
| France (amazon.fr) | A take-back scheme registers you with the environment agency ADEME | A unique identifier (identifiant unique), one per category | Up to 19 categories, including packaging, electronics, batteries, furniture and textiles |
| Spain (amazon.es) | The MITECO producer register, joined through a scheme | A registration number in the form ENV/year/nine digits | Packaging, batteries, and more |
| Austria (amazon.at) | The national packaging scheme, with a representative for foreign sellers | A packaging registration number | Packaging, electronics, batteries |
Two things to read off that table.
- The numbers do not travel. A German LUCID number is useless on Amazon in France or Spain, and each waste stream needs its own registration.
- This is not new, and it is not shrinking. Amazon has required a LUCID number for German packaging since 1 July 2022, added German electronics from 1 January 2023, and switched on Spain and further categories since.
From 12 August 2026, when the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies, checking a seller's registration becomes part of the EU-wide rulebook for marketplaces, so expect the net to widen, not loosen.
How to get your EPR numbers step by step
The sequence is the same whatever you sell. You run it once for each marketplace, and once for each waste stream on that marketplace.
1. Work out exactly which numbers you need
Start with a simple grid. Down one side, list the Amazon marketplaces you sell on. Across the top, list the waste streams your products fall under. Wherever a marketplace and a stream meet, that is one registration and one number.
Most sellers under-count here. The box a gadget ships in is packaging, and the gadget itself is electronics, so a single product on a single marketplace can already need two numbers. Get the grid right and the rest is just working through it.
This is what that grid looks like for a seller on three marketplaces.
2. Register with each country's producer register to get the number
For each cell in your grid, you register with that country's producer register, and in most cases you also join a compliance scheme (a producer responsibility organisation, or PRO) that does the actual recycling. Registering is what earns you the number.
The names change by country.
- In Germany, packaging goes in LUCID, run by the Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister, and electronics and batteries go through stiftung ear.
- In France, a take-back scheme registers you with ADEME and issues an identifiant unique for each category.
- In Spain, a scheme registers you with the MITECO producer register, which issues a number in the form ENV/year/nine digits.
If your company is not based in the country, some registers make you work through an authorised representative there. Germany already requires one for electronics and batteries, and Austria for foreign sellers, so check that before you start rather than halfway through.
Our full guide to registering for EPR walks through this step in more depth.
Each registration hands back the number Amazon will later check.
3. Enter each number in Amazon Seller Central
This is the step people forget, and it is the one that actually turns your listings back on. Registering earns you a number, but Amazon only acts on what you put into it.
In Seller Central, open the Compliance Information for Extended Producer Responsibility portal (Amazon keeps one section per country). Pick the marketplace, pick the category, enter the number exactly as the register issued it, and submit. Repeat for every marketplace and every category in your grid.
The portal has a field for each marketplace and category you sell in.
4. Let Amazon verify and watch your listing status
After you submit, Amazon checks the number against the national register. This is not instant, and until it clears, the affected listings can stay suppressed.
Once the number is verified, the block lifts and your listings go live again. If Amazon rejects a number, it is almost always because it does not match the register (a typo, the wrong type of number, or a registration that is not active yet), so fix it at the source and resubmit.
A listing moves from suppressed to active once Amazon matches your number to the register.
5. Keep every number valid and reported
An EPR number is not a one-off. You report your volumes to each register or scheme on their schedule (often once a year), pay the fees, and renew. Let a registration lapse and Amazon pulls the listings again, the same as if you had never registered.
Add to the grid as you grow, too. A new marketplace, a new product type, or a new material can each mean another number to get and enter. Treat it as a standing job, not a launch task.
Reporting, paying and renewing keep each number valid, which is what keeps your listings live.
How Repax handles the EPR side
Doing all of this by hand means a login, a form, and a deadline for every country and stream, sitting on top of a product spreadsheet that has to feed each one. Repax is built to take that work off your plate, and it splits the job the same way this guide does.
- Repax Core gets your data ready. Spec each product and its packaging once (materials, weights, components) and Core turns it into the figures every register and Amazon field asks for. It is live now, from €0 a month.
- Repax Comply is being built for the filing itself, registering and submitting across markets from one place so the numbers land where they need to. It is on the way, with a waitlist open.
- Repax Declare handles the EU packaging Declaration of Conformity, if your packaging needs one under the PPWR. It is live now.
Repax does not make you compliant on its own, and it does not enter your numbers into Amazon for you today. It does the data groundwork every registration depends on, and the filing side is coming.
Pricing is public: a free tier at €0 a month, paid plans from €29 a month, and a custom tier for high volume (as of July 2026).
Still comparing tools? Our best EPR software rundown lines up the main options, Repax included, and there is a version for ecommerce sellers too.
The one thing sellers get wrong
Plenty of sellers get their LUCID number or their French identifiant unique, file it away, and stay suppressed for weeks wondering why. Amazon does not read the national register for you. It only acts on the number you typed into the Seller Central compliance portal, so a number that never gets entered does nothing for your listings.
The close cousin of this mistake is entering the wrong number. Amazon wants the official register number (the LUCID number, the identifiant unique, the Spanish ENV number), not your contract reference with a recycling scheme. Enter the register number, keep it valid, and the block stays off.
If you take one thing from this guide, remember that being registered is not the same as being cleared on Amazon.
Common questions about EPR numbers for Amazon
Short, self-contained answers to what Amazon sellers ask most.
How long does it take to get an EPR number for Amazon?
It depends on the country and how ready your product data is. Once your materials and weights are together, a single registration can be quick, but some registers and schemes take days to weeks to issue and activate the number, and Amazon then needs time to verify it. Start before you plan to sell, not after Amazon suppresses you.
Does a German LUCID number work on Amazon in France or Spain?
No. EPR numbers are national. Your LUCID number covers German packaging only. To sell the same product on Amazon in France or Spain you register separately in each country and enter each country's own number in Seller Central.
In which countries does Amazon require an EPR number?
Right now it is Germany, France, Spain and Austria, the marketplaces where Amazon actively checks your registration and suspends listings without a valid number. That is not the whole story. EPR is the law in more EU countries than Amazon currently gates, so you can be legally required to register somewhere Amazon is not yet blocking you. From 12 August 2026 the PPWR makes registration checks part of the EU-wide rulebook for marketplaces, so expect the list to grow.
What happens if I sell on Amazon without an EPR number?
Amazon deactivates the non-compliant listings, or complies on your behalf and charges you for it. On top of that the national rules still apply. In Germany, placing packaging on the market without registering can bring fines of up to €200,000, so the marketplace block is only part of the risk.
Can I let Amazon deal with EPR for me?
In France and Spain, Amazon offers to comply on your behalf if you have not registered yourself. It works, but it costs more than registering directly and it takes the compliance out of your hands. For most sellers, getting your own numbers is cheaper and keeps you in control. Treat it as a fallback, not the plan.
Do I need a separate number for every product I sell?
No, not per product. You register per waste stream per country, so all your packaging on one marketplace usually sits under one packaging number, all your electronics under one electronics number, and so on. You need more numbers as you add streams, countries or categories, not as you add individual products.
