The EPR numbers you need come from your markets, not from Zalando's form. That means a packaging registration number for every EU country your orders reach, and in France a textile number on top of that. This guide is written for a Partner Program partner selling into the EU.
The textile half is what catches most fashion partners out. Your assortment carries packaging and textiles as two separate registrations, and only the packaging half has a field on Zalando's form today.
What Zalando check your numbers against
Zalando do not simply store the number you type in. They validate it against the public register, using your company name, your address and your VAT or taxpayer reference number, and they expect the register entry to match what you gave them.
That check is easy for a platform to run, because the register is public by design. Article 44(13) of the EU packaging regulation requires the list of registered producers to be public, machine readable and searchable.
Five things need to agree before a submitted number survives that check.
- The legal name on your Zalando contract. Register in that name rather than a holding company's, because the two are compared directly.
- Your address and your VAT or taxpayer reference number. These are the other two fields Zalando matches, so an office move is a register update as well as an internal one.
- Every country your orders have actually reached. Article 44(2) attaches the duty to each member state where you first make packaging available, so the shipment is the trigger and not the listing.
- Every waste stream in your assortment. Packaging for all of it, textiles for the clothing and footwear, and electronics and batteries too if you sell anything powered.
- Who put the item on that market first. If a supplier in the same country already did, they are the producer and their number is the one you hand over.
The two dates a Zalando partner is working towards
Two regimes land on a fashion assortment and they run on different clocks. One is already live and Zalando have put their own date on it. The other is law but has no scheme behind it yet in most countries.
The packaging gate is live and Zalando blocks on 1 January 2027
The EU packaging regulation has applied since 12 August 2026. Article 45(4) makes a platform obtain the producer's registration number for the member state where the consumer is located, plus a self certification, before letting that producer onto the platform.
Those marketplace EPR obligations are why Zalando is asking at all.
Zalando's own deadline sits later than the regulation's. They opened packaging submissions in zDirect for twelve more countries on 12 August 2026, having already accepted Germany, France and Spain, and they say that from 1 January 2027 an assortment without EPR details will be blocked.
Anyone shipping through Zalando Fulfilment Solutions meets a second gate. Article 45(7) to (9) puts the same information duty on a fulfilment service provider.
They have to check what they receive against an official database or the public producer list, ask you to fix anything wrong, and suspend the service if you do not.
The textile gate arrives on 17 April 2028
EPR for textiles is now EU law as well. Directive (EU) 2025/1892 of 10 September 2025 inserted Article 22a into the Waste Framework Directive.
Article 22a requires every member state to have a textile EPR scheme in place by 17 April 2028, and national transposition is due by 17 June 2027.
On a marketplace the mechanism is the same one again. Article 22a(13) makes online platforms obtain the producer's textile register number for the country the consumer is in, plus a self certification, before allowing that producer to use their services.
Article 22a(15) repeats the same duty towards fulfilment providers.
Annex IVc of that directive decides who is in scope, and for a Zalando partner the answer is almost always yes. It lists all of CN chapters 61 and 62, so knitted and non knitted apparel and clothing accessories, plus blankets, household linen, curtains, hats and footwear.
Zalando's form is narrower than your duty
Zalando's Partner Program runs in 25 markets, 22 of them EU member states. From 12 August 2026 zDirect collects a packaging number for 14 of those 22, which leaves eight EU markets where you can sell without the platform ever asking you for one.
Zalando's own wording is that details for all other countries will be shared in a future communication.
The duty does not wait for the form. Article 44(4) forbids making packaging available in a member state for the first time while you are not registered there, whatever the platform happens to collect.
Below is every EU member state, all 27 of them, grouped by what Zalando ask you for. Every country is named on purpose, because the rows that matter most are the ones where nobody asks you for anything.
| Where your buyer is | What Zalando ask for | What the law still requires |
|---|---|---|
| Germany, France and Spain | A packaging registration number, submitted in zDirect today | Registration in each country before you first ship there |
| Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden | The same number in zDirect from 12 August 2026 | The same duty, which started with the regulation rather than with the form |
| Austria | Nothing to submit, but compliance is a contractual obligation they may check | A contract with an approved collection and recovery system, since 1 January 2023 |
| Czechia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Romania and Slovenia | Nothing yet, and no country guidance published | Registration all the same, whatever the platform collects |
| Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and Portugal | Nothing, because these are not Partner Program markets | Registration if you reach buyers there through any other channel |
Read the last two rows as the warning they are. No Zalando article and no zDirect field means nobody is asking, not that nobody is owed, and Article 44(4) does not soften anywhere.
Two oddities in that grouping are worth knowing. Greece is on Zalando's zDirect list without appearing on their published market table, so check whether you can sell there through Zalando at all before you register.
The other is that three Partner Program markets sit outside the EU altogether, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The EU regulation's registration duty does not reach them, and each runs packaging rules of its own that this guide does not cover.
Not sure if you are registered in every country you sell in?
We will run a demo on a representative product and discuss your specific EPR mix.
- How many EU markets do you sell into?
- Do you import from outside the EU?
How to get your Zalando EPR numbers accepted
The job sorts into five pieces. The first three are mostly one off, the last two come back every year, and the order matters because a number you cannot get validated is worth the same as no number at all.
Step 1. Work out which streams your assortment carries
Start with one order and take it apart. Zalando count primary packaging, which they exemplify as polybags, shoe boxes and hangtags, and secondary packaging, which is the box, the filling material, the tape and the shipping label.
The garment inside all of that is a third thing, and it belongs to the textile scheme.
Then settle who the producer is, because it is not always you. Zalando's rule is that the distance seller is the producer, which normally means the partner brand or the retailer selling online.
The exception is a supplier in the same country who already put the goods on that market. France shows how literally this is applied.
Buy from two French suppliers and Zalando want a unique identification number from both. Your supplier is legally obliged to disclose it in their terms or in a contractual document.
Step 2. Register for packaging in every country your orders reach
One registration per country, and there is no shortcut. Zalando state it flatly, that a partner classified as a producer must register for EPR in each country they sell in and that there is no EU wide registration.
Give it real time. Article 44(11)(b) allows the authority up to twelve weeks to grant a registration and issue the number, counted from the point your file is complete rather than from when you started.
What comes back is not the same shape everywhere, and the three markets Zalando writes about separately are the three that differ most. Germany has been running longest, since 1 July 2022 for packaging and 1 July 2023 for the electronics and battery numbers.
| Market | What you end up holding |
|---|---|
| Germany | A LUCID number starting with DE and thirteen digits, plus a licence with an authorised dual system, plus Stiftung EAR numbers for electronics and batteries if you sell anything powered |
| France | A unique identification number issued through ADEME, which runs France's national producer register and gives out one identifier per scheme |
| Austria | No producer number at all, and a contract with an approved collection and recovery system instead |
Our directory of national EPR registers covers what the other markets issue.
Where you are not established in the country, you may need someone local to carry the duty with you. Article 45(3) requires that appointment to be made by written mandate, and our guide to appointing an EU authorised representative covers what the mandate has to say.
Zalando add a caveat of their own here, that these procedures are still being implemented across the EU. Confirm the current position with the register rather than assuming it.
Step 3. Add the textile registration where the scheme already runs
France is where this is already a live requirement, and it is the clearest picture of what the rest of the EU is heading towards.
Zalando's French guidance says a partner selling textiles registers with two producer responsibility organisations, one for textiles and one for packaging, and ends up holding two unique identification numbers.
You can tell them apart at a glance. A French packaging number contains _01 and a textile number contains _11, in a format like FR239691_01VNFV.
The textile organisation in France is Refashion, and our page on textile EPR in France covers what it asks for.
One exemption is worth checking rather than relying on. Zalando say a partner selling only exempt items, giving leather goods as their example, does not need a French textile number.
Annex IVc lists leather apparel under 4203 and leather uppered footwear under 6403, so that position is worth testing again once the national scheme lands.
Step 4. Submit each number under the entity on your contract
Packaging numbers go into zDirect, and Zalando say submissions opened there for their twelve newer countries on 12 August 2026. Germany, France and Spain were accepting them already.
Submitted is not the same as accepted. The three fields Zalando compares are your company name, your address and your VAT or taxpayer reference number, so a registration held by a slightly different legal entity fails the check rather than the submission.
Zalando may also ask for more than the number. In Germany they say they can request your confirmation of system participation at any time, which is the document proving you licensed the packaging rather than only registering it.
Step 5. Keep each number alive after it is accepted
A registration is a live record and not a certificate. Article 44(12) requires you to tell the register about any change without undue delay, and three ordinary pieces of business are enough to make an accepted number wrong.
- A new category or stream. One battery powered item added to a German shop pulls you into two registrations you may never have held.
- A new brand. German battery registration runs per brand, so a second brand of the same product needs its own entry.
- A change of legal entity. The name on your contract is the one they validate against, so a restructure breaks the match in every market at once.
France adds a renewal on top of that. A unique identification number is valid for one year and is extended only if you report correctly and pay the annual fees, so one unreported year quietly ends the number Zalando is relying on.
Where Repax fits for a Zalando partner
Steps 2 and 5 are where this stops being form filling. Every register wants the weight of each packaging material you placed on its market over its own reporting year, grouped its own way, and that calculation comes back every year for every country you registered in.
Repax Core is built for that part. Core is our data warehouse for EPR compliance, reads your product and order data out of the systems you already run, and holds materials and weights once so a single change updates every product built from them.
Try Repax Core for free - no card required Describe your products once and Core builds the report each market and scheme expects. Try it freeCore prepares the data behind a filing. It does not submit to a register, it does not obtain your registration number, and it does not type anything into zDirect. Repax Comply picks up the submission half, registering you and filing for you across EU markets.
Textile registration and textile reporting sit outside Core as well, so treat it as the packaging half of this job.
Common mistakes on a Zalando assortment
Below are six assumptions that cost partners an assortment rather than a fee.
- Assuming Zalando Fulfilment Solutions covers your shipping packaging everywhere. Zalando's PPWR page and their French and Austrian pages all say Zalando Fulfilment Solutions carries the secondary packaging. Their German pages say the opposite, that a partner is still the producer for it under German law. The split tracks the country and not the platform, so get your own position confirmed before you drop a licence.
- Treating the packaging number as covering the clothes. In France they are two registrations with two numbers, and by 17 April 2028 every member state has to have a textile scheme running.
- Reading zDirect's country list as your legal scope. Eight of Zalando's EU markets are not on it, and Article 44(4) still forbids selling into a member state where you are not registered.
- Assuming that no number collected means nothing expected. Zalando collect nothing for Austria and have still been able to suspend a non compliant partner there since 1 January 2023.
- Registering under the wrong company. Zalando validate against the name, address and VAT number they hold for you, so a registration in a parent company's name fails the check.
- Assuming a small assortment is out of scope. Under ten tonnes of packaging in a year reduces what you report under Annex IX of the packaging regulation, and it does not remove the registration.
Frequently asked questions about EPR numbers on Zalando
Five questions come up more than any others once a partner starts this work.
How long does it take to get an EPR number?
Allow twelve weeks. Article 44(11)(b) gives the authority up to twelve weeks from the point your file is complete, and Zalando's own advice is to start immediately because lead times can be long.
Does Zalando register on your behalf?
No. Zalando collect and validate the numbers and say partners are responsible for registering with the relevant organisation themselves. Their role is the check, not the registration.
What happens if you do not provide the details?
Your assortment gets blocked. Zalando say that from 1 January 2027 an assortment without EPR details will be blocked, and their German, French and Austrian pages each warn that non compliance can suspend selling in that market.
Do you need a separate number for the clothes as well as the packaging?
In France, yes. Zalando ask a textile partner for two unique identification numbers, one for packaging and one for textiles. Elsewhere the textile scheme is not running yet, with a deadline of 17 April 2028.
Can Repax do this for you?
Repax Core prepares the packaging figures each register asks for from one dataset. It does not submit filings, obtain numbers or cover textile reporting, and our comparison of textile EPR software covers that half.
