More than 150 cities want a packaging tax
DUH survey on packaging tax: More and more cities are planning taxes on single-use packaging. Special regional taxes could become a problem for packaging companies.
Read more "
The Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg declared Tübingen's packaging tax statutes invalid on 30 March 2022. The reasons for the judgement are now available.
A tax on disposable packaging has been in force in Tübingen since January 2022. This is intended to Increasing littering of the cityscape due to „to go“ packaging reduced and to incentivise the use of reusable systems. For each disposable drinks packaging, each disposable crockery item and each other disposable food packaging, 50 cents is payable, as well as 20 cents for each disposable cutlery set.
The franchisee of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant in Tübingen had filed a lawsuit against the packaging tax statutes and had The Federal Constitutional Court referred to a judgement from 1998, according to which the packaging tax on disposable packaging introduced by the city of Kassel in 1991 violated the federal waste legislation in force at the time.
This is the judgement of the VGH
The 2nd Senate of the VGH stated the reasons for its favourable decision: Tübingen already lacks the authority to introduce the packaging tax, as it is not a local tax. According to the facts of the case, the tax is not limited to packaging for food and drinks for consumption on the spot (like the Kassel packaging tax), but also covers the sale of products to take away. This does not sufficiently ensure the local reference of the tax in normative terms and it is It is not guaranteed that the contaminated consumption and thus the consumption of the packaging would take place locally in the municipal area. In the case of takeaway products, it is not guaranteed that they will remain in the municipal area due to their transportability - even over long distances.
The deviating view of the city of Tübingen would open the door to the introduction of all possible excise duties by the municipalities. This would be excluded by the Basic Law. This is because excise duties are production costs of the economy, which make uniform tax legislation necessary in a uniform economic area.
The packaging tax In addition, its structure as an incentive tax is in conflict with current federal waste legislation. The federal legislator has made detailed regulations on the prevention and recycling of the entire range of packaging waste and thus also of the disposable packaging that is the subject of the Tübingen packaging tax. It had thus decided which legal instruments should be used to realise the objectives of waste prevention and waste recycling, and thus also, in particular, the extent to which the objectives of waste prevention and waste recycling should be pursued. Accordingly, the Packaging Act is a closed system, which excludes additional regulations by the municipal legislator.
Even the priority of waste prevention does not give the municipalities the responsibility to independently „drive forward“ the waste management objective of waste prevention. Even if the goal of reducing the volume of packaging has not been (sufficiently) achieved on the basis of the previous regulations in the Packaging Act, It is up to the federal legislator to provide a remedy and further develop the regulatory system of the Packaging Act. Any omissions on the part of the federal legislator did not entitle the municipalities to „improve“ its decisions on their own authority.
Municipal council decides on revision
Whether the university city Tuebingen will now be decided by the municipal council. The statutes will remain in force until a legally valid judgement is passed, it says. The city council has therefore asked all businesses to stick to the current procedure until further notice.
Mayor Boris Palmer is surprised by the reasoning behind the judgement of the Mannheim Administrative Court (VGH).
„Ultimately, the court says that local authorities must come to terms with the escalating flood of packaging. Only the federal government is allowed to decide how much unnecessary waste we collect and dispose of in cities every day. We are forbidden to improve the situation, even if we are working towards the targets that the federal government itself has set. The law says nothing about this, so the federal legislator should clarify whether this is actually its intention. The Green Federal Environment Minister is clearly called upon to act, because all previous measures against to-go waste have been ineffective and have led to more waste and wasted resources every year.“
Boris Palmer, Lord Mayor of Tübingen
Palmer also finds the second argument of the VGH, that there is a risk that Tuebingen a tax on local consumption, even though the coffee to go or the hot pizza possibly be consumed outside Tübingen„Buying a cappuccino to go in Tübingen's pedestrian zone and travelling all the way to Reutlingen to drink it outside the city limits does not correspond to the reality of life.“
The city administration is now examining the exact reasons for the judgement with the help of the law firm involved and will inform the municipal council of the outcome. submit a recommendation on the possible appeal to the Federal Administrative Court. Due to the deadlines set, the decision must be made at the municipal council meeting on 28 April.
Source: VGH and the city of Tübingen
Packaging tax - More news
No packaging tax for Hamburg
The Hamburg City Parliament has decided against the introduction of a municipal packaging tax. A corresponding motion by the left-wing parliamentary group was rejected.
Read more "
Dehoga NRW calls for a state-wide ban on municipal packaging taxes
The distinction between which packaging may and may not be legally subject to tax for which purpose leads to „complex, impractical and therefore also justiciable“ instructions in practice.
Read more "
Tübingen tests reusable box for pizza
Together with the company Trikora Deutschland, the city of Tübingen has introduced a reusable system for pizza packaging.
Read more "
Bavaria wants to ban municipal packaging tax
The Bavarian state government has announced that it will present a law prohibiting cities and municipalities from introducing their own packaging taxes. This is in response to municipal initiatives such as the one in Augsburg. Environmental organisations have sharply criticised the plan.
Read more "
Tübingen packaging tax does not apply at McDrive
An interesting detail from the university town on the Neckar was less well known until now.
Read more "