KontorBund — Explainer How to register with DPA for packaging
Last checked 23 August 2026
kontorbund.com/explainers/dpa-packaging-registration.html

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How to register with DPA for packaging

Last checked23 August 2026

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The short version

DPA — Dansk Producentansvar — is Denmark's packaging producer register, not a data-protection body (a common mix-up given the initials). It's the non-profit that runs Denmark's national producer register for packaging, among other product areas. If you place packaged goods on the Danish market, you create the registration yourself online, declare your expected quantities and, for most non-Danish companies, sign in with a username and password rather than MitID. Registration is not complete the moment you submit the form — it is complete once the fee is paid and DPA has issued proof of registration, and you need that done fourteen days before your first Danish shipment. This page is the mechanics of that one step. For the representative, scheme membership, reporting deadlines and what happens if you miss one, see the Denmark desk.

Who has to register

Any producer or importer placing packaged products on the Danish market has to register in DPA's national producer register — Danish companies and foreign ones, EU and non-EU, with no minimum-quantity threshold that removes the registration duty itself.

You're established in Denmark: You register directly, authenticating with MitID Erhverv against your CVR number.
You're established elsewhere in the EU/EEA and sell directly to Danish end users: You still create and hold the registration yourself — see the steps below — and you separately need a Danish authorised representative to accept it. That appointment is a different process, covered on the Denmark desk, not repeated here.
You're established outside the EU/EEA: You still register, on DPA's own guidance no representative is required for packaging specifically — batteries are the exception, not packaging. See the non-EU exception for the caveats before relying on this.
You place under 8 tonnes a year: No exemption from registering. Under 8 tonnes you may later report a single "Total packaging" figure instead of a full material breakdown — a reporting simplification, not a registration one. See the desk's reporting section.

Before you start

Have these ready before you open the registration form — stopping halfway to go find them is the most common reason this takes longer than it should.

How you'll sign in: Danish companies authenticate with MitID Erhverv. Non-Danish companies use the separate "for non-Danish companies" path and create a username (normally an email address) and password instead — no MitID needed.
Your company identifiers: A Danish CVR number if you have one, or your equivalent company registration/VAT details if you don't.
Your brand names: The registration asks for the brands you place packaging under, not just your legal company name.
Budgeted quantities, in kilograms: An estimate of what you expect to place on the Danish market, broken down by the packaging categories that apply to you (under 8 tonnes, a single total figure is enough).
Your distance-selling status: Whether you're selling directly to Danish end users from outside Denmark — the form asks this explicitly.
A payment method: The one-off registration fee is charged during the process. DPA and the annual quantity-based fee are set by DPA and approved by the Environment Minister, and republished each year — check the live fee page for the current figures rather than relying on a number written down elsewhere. See the caution on the Denmark desk's cost table.

The registration steps

This is DPA's own described sequence for packaging registration, condensed. The first fork — Danish company or not — decides how you authenticate; everything after it is the same form.

Start the registration

From DPA's registration entry point, choose "Create registration." Non-Danish companies pick the separate "for non-Danish companies" option here rather than the CVR lookup.

Authenticate

MitID Erhverv for a Danish company, or a username and password you create on the spot for a non-Danish one.

Enter contact information

Company details and a working contact — this is who DPA and, later, your scheme will actually reach.

Select "Packaging" as a product area

DPA's register spans electronics, batteries, vehicles, packaging, fishing gear and single-use plastics — you're only choosing the one that applies to you here.

Tick the packaging categories that apply

The material/format categories DPA lists for packaging, plus whether it's made available to households, businesses, or both.

Enter your budgeted quantities

In kilograms, per category, for the current year — the estimate you gathered in before you start.

Add your brands

The names your packaging actually carries, which may not be your registered company name.

Declare distance-selling status

Confirm whether you're selling directly to Danish end users from outside Denmark.

Submit and pay

The one-off registration fee is charged here. Nothing beyond this step happens until it clears.

Receive proof of registration

DPA issues this once the fee is paid and the submission is processed. Keep it — see below for why it's the date that actually matters.

When registration is actually complete

Submitting the form is not registering. DPA treats the registration as complete only once the fee has been paid and DPA has issued proof of registration. Build in time for both, not just the time to fill in the form.

And build in more than that: DPA requires registration no later than 14 days before packaging is first placed on the Danish market. If you're an EU/EEA producer who also needs a Danish authorised representative, add that process's own lead time on top — the representative has a separate window to accept the request, and an unaccepted request isn't a registration either. The full sequence and its timing live on the Denmark desk, not here — this page is deliberately just the registration form itself.

What this page doesn't cover

Registering is one step in a longer list of Danish obligations, and conflating them is the easiest way to think you're done when you're not. This page is deliberately narrow. For the rest:

Appointing a Danish authorised representative: A separate legal entity, a separate acceptance step inside the register, and who actually gets DPA's invoice. See the representative.
Joining a collective compliance scheme: Compulsory for ordinary packaging, connected to your registration, and not the same relationship as the representative. See scheme membership.
Annual reporting: A window, not a single deadline, and a different simplification for under-8-tonne producers than the registration one. See the reporting window.
What happens if you miss a report: Denmark doesn't fine you — it switches your registration off, and you can no longer legally sell into the market until you register again from scratch. See inactivation.

Sources

Dansk Producentansvar — Registration Official DPA guidance. Source for the registration flow steps, the MitID Erhverv / username-password split between Danish and non-Danish companies, and the one-off-plus-annual fee structure
Dansk Producentansvar — Packaging Official DPA guidance. Source for the annual reporting requirement and the registration-in-the-national-register framing
KontorBund — Denmark desk Source for the 14-day lead time, the representative's acceptance mechanics, scheme membership, the reporting window, the under-8-tonne simplification, and the inactivation consequence — all deliberately kept off this page and linked instead

Help us finish this page

We haven't yet re-confirmed the exact current fee figures against DPA's live fee calculator, and DPA recalculates them annually — if you've registered recently and can share what you were actually charged, it sharpens this page and the Denmark desk both.

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