How do you register for EPR in Austria in 2026?

By the end of this guide your company will hold every registration Austria requires under extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging, electronics and batteries, with the right party filing each one, whether you are established in Austria or sell into it from abroad.

Beyond the three this guide walks through, Austria puts producer duties on vehicles, single-use plastics and fishing gear, six streams in all, and a table near the end names where each of those registers.

How do I register for EPR in Austria?

Austria routes the producer duties for all six of its waste streams through one government register, EDM (Elektronisches Datenmanagement). For packaging, electronics and batteries, the three covered here in full, that means three registrations with different filers.

• Packaging runs through a licensed collection and recovery system such as ARA, which reports your packaging to EDM for you. From abroad, an Austrian representative signs you up when you sell direct to consumers.
• Electronics are registered in EDM, which the Umweltbundesamt runs for the environment ministry. You file yourself or through your electronics system, and a seller abroad selling direct files through an Austrian representative.
• Batteries are registered in EDM the same way, by you or your battery system, and through an Austrian representative when you sell direct from abroad.

Each one has to be in place before your first product is sold in Austria. EDM identifies every registered company by a GLN (Global Location Number), and for packaging the proof is your contract with a licensed system, which marketplaces must check before they let you sell.

What to gather first

Before you contact a system or open EDM, gather these five company details and documents.

1. Your company register and tax numbers

   Both EDM forms ask for them, together with an Austrian address where official letters can reach you. From abroad, that is your representative's address.

2. Your packaging split into household and commercial

   A binding Austrian ordinance decides which packaging counts as household and which as commercial, by size and by where it ends up. Both kinds need a system.

3. A product list by category

   List your devices by EDM category and your batteries in the five EU battery categories, counting the battery built into each device.

4. A system for each stream

   The environment ministry lists six licensed systems for household packaging, five for electronics and five for batteries. You will sign with one per stream.

5. A certified power of attorney

   If you sell direct from abroad, a certified mandate in German or English for your Austrian representative, stating the scope for each stream.

The one question that decides your whole route

If your company is based abroad, it also matters who buys from you:

• An Austrian business. That business is usually the producer and registers.
• Consumers directly. You are the producer, and your Austrian representative registers you.

One EDM portal and a quarter to plan around

EPR registration is national everywhere in the EU, and how to register for EPR in Europe sets out that frame. Austria then routes all three core streams into one portal.

Across EPR in Austria the duties most producers trigger sit in three registrations, and a webshop selling a packaged device with a battery inside owes all three. The rule from abroad is the same for each, but who files at home is not.

Below are Austria's three registrations side by side, with the costs as the law sets them in September 2026.

Registration did not change on 12 August 2026, when the EU packaging regulation (PPWR) began to apply. The ministry keeps Austria's system duty and reports in force until the national laws are amended, and no draft of those amendments had been published by mid-September 2026.

The new EU producer register for packaging does not exist in Austria yet. The environment ministry's fact sheet on the packaging regulation says EDM will be adapted to it from 2028 at the earliest.

Batteries moved onto the EU Battery Regulation on 18 August 2025. Austria applies it directly while its own battery law waits to be rewritten, and since 1 January 2026 every battery report uses the five EU categories.

A 6-step guide to EPR registration in Austria

This guide takes you from the first check, whether Austria counts you as the producer, to holding every registration you need. The steps run in the order the Austrian calendar sets, and each one ends with what you should have in hand before you move on.

Step 1. Confirm Austria counts you as the producer

Austria names a producer for each stream, so check every product line against three tests.

• Packaging. You, if you pack goods, import them or make service packaging in Austria, or ship packaged goods from abroad straight to Austrian consumers.
• Electronics. You, if you make, import or sell devices under your own brand here, or sell them at a distance to Austrian users from abroad.
• Batteries. You, if you are first to place batteries on the Austrian market, the ones inside your devices included.

Selling only to an Austrian business usually makes that business the producer. No stream has a volume threshold, so the first delivery counts.

Step 2. Work out which registrations you owe

Each yes from step 1 is one registration, and all three end up in EDM.

For packaging you owe a contract with a licensed system for household packaging, and a second one for commercial packaging if you ship to businesses.

For electronics and portable or car batteries you owe an EDM registration plus a system. Industrial and electric-vehicle batteries register in EDM too, but need no system yet, so confirm your route with the ministry.

Any other stream is in the table further down this page.

Step 3. Decide who files each one

Who files depends on where you sell from and to whom, so read your case.

Established in Austria. Your packaging system reports your packaging to EDM, so you file nothing there yourself. You register electronics and batteries in EDM, or let your system forward the data.

Selling direct to Austrian consumers from abroad. An Austrian authorised representative is compulsory for all three streams, whether you sit inside or outside the EU. It registers you in EDM, joins the systems for you and files your reports.

Selling to Austrian businesses from abroad. Your Austrian customer carries the duty as the importer. From another EU country you may appoint a representative instead, which takes the duty off your customer.

How to appoint an EPR authorised representative walks the appointment.

Step 4. Gather what each registration asks for

Each registration needs a different data set, so collect it stream by stream.

1. Packaging. For the system, your weights per material and tariff category, with household and commercial packaging kept apart.
2. Electronics. Your company and tax numbers, contact details and website, your devices by category, household or business use, and your system.
3. Batteries. Your company details and brand names, your batteries in the five EU categories, and your system where you join one.
4. The mandate. From abroad, a certified power of attorney in German or English, stating the scope per stream.

Step 5. Register in the order the calendar sets

A representative only takes effect at the end of a calendar quarter, so the quarter sets the order from abroad.

1. Appoint the representative a quarter ahead if you sell direct from abroad. A mandate signed in May only counts from 1 July.
2. Sign with a system for each stream. How to choose a producer responsibility organisation walks the choice.
3. Register in EDM for electronics and batteries, or ask your system to forward your data. For packaging your system reports you.
4. Wait for the login. The EDM password arrives by post, about two to three weeks after you apply, and your record then carries a GLN.

You are done when every system contract is signed and EDM lists your categories.

Step 6. Do what each registration makes due next

Each registration starts a reporting rhythm, and your systems carry most of it.

Packaging is reported to your system, yearly by 15 March when your fee stays under 1,500 euros, and quarterly or monthly above that.

Household electronics and portable batteries are reported every quarter, within seven weeks of its end, and your system's report covers yours. Business electronics are reported once a year, by 10 April.

From 1 October 2026 coffee capsules, pads and tea bags need a household packaging system too. How to do EPR reporting walks the whole cycle.

The other streams Austria regulates

Beyond packaging, electronics and batteries, Austria runs producer duties for three more product groups.

Below is where each one registers, so you can rule them in or out in one pass.

Textiles are not on the list yet. Austria's waste act names no producer duty for them, and no Austrian textile scheme was in force on 28 September 2026.

One product record behind your Austrian systems

There are two ways through the work above, and both rest on the same product data.

Run the filings yourself

Every step above is data work before it is filing work. The packaging split into household and commercial by material, the devices by category, the batteries in five categories, and then the same figures again for each system, some of them every quarter.

Repax Core holds one structured record per product, broken down to its materials and components, takes your sales data in through integrations or order imports, and builds the cut each report asks for.

The quarterly electronics and battery figures and the yearly packaging figures come out of the same record, so they add up across your systems.

Or hand the filings over

If you would rather not run them yourself, Repax Comply is the managed route, linked at the top of this guide. Producers register and report through Repax market by market, with an Austrian representative appointed where the rules require one.

The Austrian detail to know is the quarter again. Changing or ending a representative mandate also only takes effect at the end of a calendar quarter, so plan any handover before the quarter closes.

For the tools that hold Austrian register data side by side today, the best Austrian EPR software in 2026 ranks them.

6 common mistakes when registering for EPR in Austria

Below are the six mistakes producers make most often when they register in Austria.

1. Appointing the representative too late

   Signing the mandate in the middle of a quarter and selling straight away. It only starts at the quarter's end, so the weeks in between are not covered.

2. Waiting for a packaging number

   Expecting a registration number under the EU packaging regulation. Austria has no separate packaging register yet, and your system contract is the proof.

3. Licensing household packaging only

   Leaving out the boxes, film and pallets sent to businesses. Commercial packaging has needed a system of its own since 1 January 2023.

4. Licensing the deposit bottle

   Paying a packaging system for bottles and cans in the deposit scheme. They are exempt, but the film, trays and cardboard around them are not.

5. Counting a device as one registration

   Treating the electronics registration as covering the battery inside. The battery is a second registration with its own system.

6. Forgetting capsules and tea bags

   Treating coffee capsules, pads and tea bags as part of the product. They count as packaging since 12 August 2026 and need a household system from 1 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions about registering for EPR in Austria

Below are the five questions producers ask most often about registering for EPR in Austria.

How long does this take?

Plan for a full calendar quarter from abroad, because a representative only takes effect at the end of one. The EDM login itself takes about two to three weeks, as the password is sent by post.

Do I need a company or an address in Austria?

Not a company. Selling direct to Austrian consumers from abroad, you need an Austrian representative, whose address becomes yours for official letters. Selling only to Austrian businesses, your customer usually carries the duty instead.

Can Repax register for me?

Yes. Repax Comply runs the registrations and reports through an Austrian representative where one is required. Your system contracts stay in place, because in Austria the systems report your packaging for you.

What happens if I sell in Austria without registering?

Selling without a system, or without the representative a direct seller must appoint, is fined 450 to 8,400 euros, plus up to twice the system fee you avoided. Marketplaces must also exclude you.

Does one authorised representative cover all of Austria's registrations?

It can. One Austrian representative may take on packaging, electronics and batteries, but the power of attorney has to state the scope for each stream, and every appointment starts at the end of a quarter.