"Green dot" Trademark

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Our environmental responsibility is expressed in everyday life, through the care of the packaging of products we buy. It is therefore important that, before buying, we check whether the product is marked with a „Green Dot" trademark or not. If so, we know that the company which places that product on the market participates in the management of packaging waste, that is socially responsible and environmentally aware.

„Green Dot" is international protected symbol, registered at the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO (http://www.wipo.int), as well as at the Institute for Intellectual Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Green Dot" is a trademark which is placed on product packaging and gives information to consumer that, after the product is consumed and packaging discarded, there is a system that will ensure that the packaging is collected and recycled instead to end up in landfill or in the environment.

Products marked with a „Green Dot“ are gleadly seen in markets across the Europe, because they sent a message to consumers and business partners on socially responsible business.

“Green Dot” history

"Green Dot" as a system of packaging waste, has began to apply in the 1980s in Germany. The system has become very popular with the consumers and spreaded across Europe and beyond.

Due to the popularity, the owner of the “Green Dot" trademark - German company Duales System Deutschland AG. (D.S.D.), has decided to let the management and coordination of the symbol use outside the market of Germany, to the European umbrella organization PRO EUROPE headquartered in Brussels. Since 1995, PRO-EUROPE owns the rights for authorization for "Green Dot" trademark use.       

Today, “Green Dot” is most used protected trademark. Countries members of PRO EUROPE via the  authorized operators are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Serbia, Israel, Macedonia, Great Britain, Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina via Ekopak.

The structure of "Green Dot"

Almost each of the European countries has one authorized system operator who is the holder of exclusive rights of the "Green Dot" trademark. That system operator is authorized to establish and develop the system of collection and recycling of packaging waste on the principle of “extended producers responsibility” (EPR), on behalf of producers, importers, distributors and retailers, who place packaging or packed products on the market, as well as to regulate the use of the "Green Dot" trademark.

"Green Dot" symbol usage is regulated by the principle of placement of packed product, meaning not by the place of production, but by the place of products consumption.

"Green Dot" in Bosnia and Herzegovina

After the criteria prescribed by PRO EUROPE  have been meet, Ekopak is in December 2013 admitted into this organization, which is verified by signing the contract Ekopak - PRO EUROPE. At this way Ekopak became 32nd member and Bosnia and Herzegovina 32nd country in this big system. Ekopak also became an exclusive licensee of “Green Dot” usage for the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ekopak provides "Green Dot" trademark usage for all companies that produce or import products in packaging, thus proving that their packaging is included in the Packaging Waste System in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By been member of PRO EUROPE, Ekopak provides and facilitates the import and export of the products with “Green Dot”, and also informs about the criteria which must be met to be able to use this symbol on the packaging.

The legal side of the "Green Dot" usage in Bosnia and Herzegovina

“Green Dot” trademark is an international, protected trademark in accordance with the legislation on the protection of intellectual property and can not be used without authorization. Any usage of the symbol on the teritory of Bosnia and Herzegovina without exclusive permission from Ekopak, is against the legislation.

Users of „Green Dot“ trademark are producers, importers, distributors and retailers, who first place products on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina (importers on imported products and local producers on their own products).

Users of the Green Dot sign are producers, importers, distributors and traders, ie companies that first place the product on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina (importers on imported products, and domestic producers on their own). Regardless of who the Green Dot user is, needs to legally regulate his status. Ekopak invites all manufacturers, importers, fillers, distributors and traders to join the system and through Ekopak become part of this statistics:

  • 32 countries in the PRO EUROPE via the authorized companies.
  • “Green Dot” trademark is registered in more than 170 countries and it’s considered as the most protected trademark in the world.
  • More than 170.000 companies use „Green Dot“ trademark on their products.
  • About 460 billion packaging units are marked with the „Green Dot“ annually.
  • More than 300 million people have access to a separate disposal of packaging waste which is financed by members of PRO EUROPE, that is system operators such as Ekopak.

For all taxpayers who until now have not regulated the use of "Green Dot" on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina for any reason, we invite them to contact us and to sign the contract or remove the sign from the packaging.

The use of the "Green Dot" protected trademark is regulated by the Law on Trademark of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette B&H No. 53/10), which can be found on the LINK.

The fees for “Green Dot” usage on the market of Bosnia and Herzegovina can be seen on the LINK.

Green Dot Guidebook

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