The introduction of the deposit return scheme has affected a wide range of entities, including producers, retailers and consumers, as well as businesses (importers) bringing beverages in packaging covered by the scheme into Poland, both through intra-Community acquisitions and imports from outside the EU.
Importers’ obligations under the deposit return scheme
Under the deposit return scheme legislation[1], importers are treated in the same way as producers because they place products in packaging covered by the scheme on the market. We have already discussed producers’ obligations and position extensively in our guide (in Polish)[2]. Like producers, importers should therefore join the scheme to achieve the required separate waste collection targets and avoid a product fee at a penalty rate.
To do so, importers should enter into an agreement with a scheme operator—the exceptions and differences are discussed below—and then fulfil the obligations arising from participation. These include ensuring that imported packaging bears the appropriate scheme markings, providing reporting information to operators and submitting the relevant reports.
The ultimate outcome of all these measures, which an importer should take if it joins the scheme, is to achieve the required separate packaging collection rate: currently 77%, rising to 90% from 2029[3].
An inseparable part of these collection requirements is the potential sanction for failing to meet them. If the minimum levels are not achieved—which cannot be done without joining the scheme—an importer that has joined must pay a product fee, specifically 50% of its amount, with the operator paying the other half. Crucially, importers that do not join the scheme will pay three times the product fee on all beverages they place on the market in packaging subject to the scheme.
Ways to join the scheme
Like all other entities covered by the Act, an importer may join through two possible routes. The first is to participate in establishing a scheme operator and thereby become a shareholder. The second, considerably cheaper and certainly more common, is to join as a customer by entering into an appropriate agreement with an operator. Importantly, an agreement may be concluded with no more than one operator for any given packaging type. There are three distinct categories: single-use plastic beverage bottles up to 3 litres, metal cans up to 1 litre, and reusable glass bottles up to 1.5 litres. An importer may therefore contract with up to three different operators for these three different types.
Exclusions and exemptions
The legislation provides an exclusion from the Act’s deposit return scheme obligations, including the required separate waste collection targets. Where beverages in packaging brought into Poland are placed on the market and then taken out of the country in the same year, the Act does not apply to those packaged beverages, except for reporting obligations under Articles 14 and 45, and they are consequently excluded from the calculation of the required separate collection rates. The exclusion also applies where another entity exports the packaging placed on the market or makes an intra-Community supply, as confirmed by appropriate documents.
Furthermore, the Act’s provisions concerning (i) packaging waste recycling targets, (ii) the proportion by weight of recycled plastics, (iii) separate collection rates for packaging and packaging waste, (iv) product fees, (v) documents confirming packaging waste recycling, export and intra-Community supply, (vi) public educational campaign obligations, and (vii) reports on expenditure on public educational campaigns do not apply to businesses that, in a given calendar year, placed products on the market in packaging whose total weight did not exceed 1 tonne. To use this exemption, businesses must meet certain conditions: they must satisfy the requirements for de minimis aid and submit the required documents to the voivodeship marshal on time[4].
Businesses taking beverages outside Poland by export or intra-Community supply without first placing them on the Polish market are not subject to Poland’s deposit return scheme. They therefore do not have to meet its collection targets or label that packaging, among other things. However, the rules in the destination countries should be analysed: other countries, particularly in the EU, may have deposit return scheme rules similar to Poland’s.
Media coverage focuses heavily on producers and overlooks importers. It should be remembered that importers’ and producers’ obligations under the scheme are analogous. In certain cases described above, the statutory exclusions from the scheme’s rules may be used.
[1] Act of 13 June 2013 on packaging and packaging waste management (Journal of Laws 2025, item 870) (the Act).
[2] Deposit return scheme – DJP guide (PDF, in Polish).
[3] Annex 1a to the Act.
[4] Article 7 of the Act.
