Recycling fee from 1 June on plastic packaging

Another surcharge on products whose packaging contains polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is set to take effect for consumers in less than 10 days. It applies to the an environmental fee of 8 lepta which will take effect on the 1st^η June, when the products are sold at any authorized point of sale. Under the law passed last summer, Consumers are required to pay the fee per unit of product.

The amount of the fee must be clearly and legibly stated on sales documents before VAT and recorded in the accounting records that businesses selling these products are required to maintain. It must also be stated at the points of sale for these specific products, in a location clearly visible to the consumer, that these products are subject to a fee, with the amount of the fee indicated.

Businesses are required to display at the points of sale, in a location clearly visible to consumers, a notice stating that these products are subject to a fee, along with the amount of the fee.

Businesses that sell these items are required to file a recycling fee return every quarter, by the last day of the month following the period to which it relates.

Until the implementation of the application for electronic filing of the tax return is completed, it will be submitted digitally via the Digital Reception and Request Management Application «My Requests,» which is available on the AADE website (myaade.gov.gr).

For the initial implementation period, and specifically for income earned in June 2022, the return must be filed by August 1, 2022. In any case, upon completion of the submission of the return via the online application, and provided there is a proven inability to use it, the return must be submitted in paper form to the competent tax office.

If an amended return is filed, it must be submitted digitally through the Digital Reception and Request Management Application «My Requests,» which is available on the AADE website.

Pursuant to the law that has been enacted, A packaging manufacturer that fails to comply with the provisions will be subject to a fine ranging from 500 to 100,000 euros.

And this fee, like the one on plastic bags, will be a user fee and will ultimately be remitted to the Hellenic Recycling Agency (E.O.A.N.) so that the proceeds are used exclusively to fund recycling initiatives.

Rallou Alexopoulou