If you are a foreign company placing packaging or packaged products on the Czech market, Czech Act No. 477/2001 Coll., on Packaging, requires you to appoint an authorised representative. They shall fulfil all legal obligations on your behalf regarding the recording and reporting of packaging and will communicate with the Czech authorities.

Labelling of packaging (Section 6)

The Packaging Act does not impose an obligation to mark packaging placed on the market or into circulation. However, if you decide to mark the material from which the packaging was made, you are obliged under the provisions of Section 6 of the Packaging Act to mark it in accordance with European Community law.

Prevention (Section 3)

Minimise the volume and weight of packaging while complying with the requirements placed on the packaged product.

(Obligation for persons placing packaging on the market)

Record-keeping (Section 15)

A person entered in the Register of Persons (Section 14) is obliged to: maintain records on an ongoing basis; report data to the Ministry of the Environment (MŽP) no later than 15 February; retain supporting documentation for the records for at least 5 years; and prove the accuracy of the data.

Statutory obligations

Under the law, the obligations for the take-back and recovery of packaging waste apply to persons (legal entities and sole traders) who place packaging on the market or into circulation, i.e., those who fill, import into the CR, or sell it.

Packaging is defined as any product made of material of any nature, which is intended to contain, protect, handle, deliver, or present products intended for the consumer (the citizen) or for another end-user.

Main duties:

Ensure the take-back and recovery of packaging waste (Sections 10 and 12)

– Take-back – The collection of used packaging from consumers within the Czech Republic for the purpose of reuse, recovery, or disposal of packaging waste.

– Recovery – Ensuring that packaging waste placed on the market or into circulation is recovered to the extent set out in Annex No. 3 of the Act.

Littering – reimbursement of costs for cleaning up packaging waste (Section 10a)

This obligation applies only to single-use plastic food and beverage sales packaging, which is wholly or partially made of plastic, and to plastic carrier bags.

This is an obligation to reimburse municipalities, based on a written agreement, for the costs incurred in cleaning up waste from these single-use plastic packages which individuals dispose of outside designated waste collection areas, and for the subsequent transport and treatment of such waste. This obligation came into effect on 1 January 2023.

More information on littering can be found on the Littering subpage.

Register of persons (Section 14)

A person who places packaging on the market or into circulation is obliged to submit an application for entry into the Register of Persons who bear the obligation of take-back or recovery of packaging waste, no later than 60 days from the date the obligation arises.