German court ruling on deposit at border shops faces appeal

A German administrative court has ruled that Danish customers must pay deposit on cans and bottles at border shops in Germany, but the ruling is expected to be appealed and will not change anything in the near future, according to the border shop association.

The Schleswig Administrative Court ruled Wednesday that the exemption from deposit requirements that border shops have used for years is invalid, DR reports. Shops had allowed customers to sign declarations that drinks would be consumed outside Germany to avoid the deposit.

Erik Holm Jensen, chairman of the border shop association representing 15 stores including Fleggaard, Otto Duborg and Poetzsch, said the ruling is wrong and will be appealed. The association’s members have combined sales of 800 million euros and employ around 3,000 people.

“You can safely drive to the border and buy without deposit. And you can do that in a week, in a month, and I also think next year, because the ruling changes nothing at all,” Jensen said.

The district of Schleswig-Flensburg, which lost the case, has one month to appeal. If no appeal is filed, the ruling could take effect within a year, the court told DR.

The deposit in Germany is 25 cents per can, which would add about 45 Danish kroner to a crate of beer or water. The Danish Chamber of Commerce welcomed the ruling, saying it would likely reduce cross-border shopping of cans.

A separate EU regulation already requires deposit on all cans and bottles in border areas from 2029.