If you do not yet have an account in the Customs Portal, you will find basic information on the registration process here:

Registration (in German)

To use ZGR-online, log in with your account in the Customs Portal. Then select the "Services" section. You can access the application via the "Industrial property" tab.

Customs Portal: Service "Industrial property rights (ZGR-online) " [Registration required] (in German)

In ZGR-online, you can submit applications for action by the customs authority, view and edit the data of your applications all online. (Please note: There are limitations in this regard for applications granted to Germany by another Member State and for applications submitted via another portal.)

You can submit the following supplementary applications:

• Communication of personal data pursuant to Article 17(4) of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013
• Transfer of samples pursuant to Article 19(2) of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013
• Communication of personal data as part of the small consignment procedure pursuant to Article 26(8) of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013
• Periodic notification of the nature and quantity of the destroyed goods in the small consignment procedure pursuant to Article 26(7) of Regulation (EU) No 608/2013

Notices and notifications (suspensions of release/retention of goods, seizures, cost notices) in connection with interceptions by the German customs authorities can be made available to you electronically.

Yes, even without an ELSTER certificate, it is in principle possible to use the service. You can also create an account in the Customs Portal by providing an email and setting a password. However, the application’s functions are then limited. More information on how to register the Customs Portal can be found here:

Registration (in German)

Access to ZGR-online by email and password allows you to receive notices and notifications (suspensions of release/retention of goods, seizures, cost notices) electronically in connection with interceptions by the German customs administration. Furthermore, it is possible to submit the necessary national application through contact with the ZGR (Central Industrial Property Office) regarding ex-officio proceedings.

If your application for action by the German customs authority was approved by a Member State other than Germany, the function for the electronic provision of notices and communications (suspensions of release/retention of goods, seizures, cost notices) in the context of seizures by the German customs authorities is available to you in ZGR-online, irrespective of the means of access selected for your Customs Portal account and after data transfer has taken place. You can also submit national supplementary applications (communication of personal data, transfer of samples, periodic notification of destroyed goods under the small consignment procedure).

If you access the application using the "ELSTER" access method, you can additionally view your application data records and revise the identification information for Germany (e.g. translate the stored identification information into German). This makes it possible to implement your application in the best possible way.

If your application for authorisation by Germany was submitted via another application portal, the function for the electronic provision of notices and notifications (suspensions of release/retention of goods, seizures, cost notices) within the scope of seizures by the German customs authorities is available to you in ZGR-online, irrespective of the access method selected for your Customs Portal account and after data transfer has taken place. You can also submit national supplementary applications (communication of personal data, transfer of samples, periodic notification of destroyed goods under small consignment procedure).

However, it is only possible to view the application data records of your applications using the "ELSTER" access method.

Please note: In this case, it is only possible to edit the application data records via the portal you use to submit the application.

Furthermore, when submitting an application, you must bear in mind that a signed printout of the application must continue to be submitted to the Commercial Legal Protection Centre.

For the electronic provision of notices and notifications with regard to industrial property protection, you need an account in the Customs Portal. The type of access method (ELSTER or user name/password) is irrelevant. To do this, you must agree to electronic provision of documents.

Accordingly, log in to your account in the Customs Portal. Then open the "Account" tab and there the "Business customer data" section. Click on the "Edit data" button at the bottom of the page if you want to change the information currently stored. By placing a tick under "Make notices available for retrieval in electronic form" you agree to this. In the field below, enter the email address you would like to use for the data retrieval notification. Finally, confirm and update the data by clicking the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page.

Please note: You will only receive notices and notifications electronically for which the application data records are allocated to you or your account. You can request the allocation of application data records by means of data transfer.

If a notice or communication is received for you, you will immediately receive an email at the address you previously entered in the Customs Portal informing you of the receipt of a new message in the Customs Portal.

Then log in to the Customs Portal as usual to access the message. The message is available for retrieval in the "Inbox" section. Click on the subject of the message to open it. The electronically transmitted notice or the electronically transmitted notification will be made available to you as a download in the attachment to the corresponding message.

The editing of your application data is carried out via the special IT application ZGR-online. For full access to the app as well as the application data, you have to have an account in the customs portal with ELSTER as the access method.

If you do not already have an account, please first complete the steps explained in the Customs Portal.

Please note: The viewing and editing of application data is not available to you if you have an account with the email and password access method.

After logging into the Customs Portal and accessing the ZGR-online application, you can request the data transfer of the corresponding application data records. Only application records allocated to you and your Customs Portal account can be viewed and edited. This allocation is triggered by an application for data transfer.

You have the option of revising all the identification information in your application for Germany and submitting supplementary applications.

A revision of the content of your application that is relevant to the authorisation is only possible via the authorising Member State. The corresponding fields of your application are therefore greyed out after accessing your record in ZGR-online and cannot be overwritten.

If you are unable to view your applications in ZGR-online, this may be for two reasons.

• You can only view the applications allocated to you and your account in the Customs Portal. The allocation is made by means of a request for data transfer. Therefore, make sure that you have applied for the transfer of your application data records.
• Allocated requests can only be viewed if you have logged in to your Customs Portal account using the ELSTER access method.

If you access the ZGR-online application with your email and password, you can receive notices and notifications for the application in question after the data transfer has been applied for and is required, but you cannot view the application or edit its content.

By submitting a data transfer application, you are requesting that application records be allocated to you and your account in the Customs Portal. In principle, you should apply for a transfer of application data to your account if you want to take over the electronic data record of an application for action by the customs authority that has already been filed by someone else (e.g. in the case of a change of legal representation) or if you are registered as the contact person for Germany in a Union application that has been granted by another Member State for Germany.

If the data transfer takes place using a Customs Portal account with an ELSTER certificate, allocated application data records can then be viewed and edited by you. The electronic provision of notices and notifications is also available to you for these applications.

In the case of data transfer using a Customs Portal account with the email and password access method, the application data records will only be allocated to you from a technical point of view. This is necessary so that the electronic provision of notices and notifications for these applications is available to you. However, the application data records cannot be viewed or processed with the email and password access method.

The data is transmitted via the ZGR-online application. You should therefore first log in with your account in the Customs Portal and access the "Industrial property" service.

Use the tab "Data transfer" to access the corresponding application. Enter all application numbers for which you would like to apply for data transfer. Please enclose with the application an authorisation that entitles you to take responsibility for the applications. If the application was approved for Germany by another Member State and you were named as the contact person directly in the application, you do not need an authorisation.

After submitting the application, it will automatically be transmitted to ZGR for review. If you access the application by the email and password access method, you must also print out and sign the application and send it to ZGR.

If you have any technical questions or problems, please report your issue to:

Informationstechnikzentrum Bund (ITZBund)
Phone: +49 800 8007-5451
Fax: +49 228 303-97925
ITZBund contact form (in German)