Internal Markets Commissioner Frits Bolkestein is expected to launch the procedure next week and his action is likely to have majority support at the commission, The Financial Times Deutschland and Handelsblatt dailies said.

Under a controversial law introduced in Germany on January 1, deposit charges of 25 to 50 cents (22 to 45 US cents) have been placed on canned beer, non-alcoholic fizzy drinks and mineral water.

The compulsory deposit scheme has led to chaos because of a lingering dispute over who is responsible for recycling.

Currently there is no homogenised system of return and recycling, meaning consumers must return the cans and bottles to the shop where they bought them -- providing proof of purchase such as the receipt -- in order to recuperate their deposit.

It works if the product was bought at a large supermarket or the corner shop next door to your house, not if it was purchased at a snack bar or somewhere like a railway station. Tourists, too, are affected.

According to the newspapers, this lack of a centralised collection system could be hurting companies which import drinks into Germany.

Since the scheme was introduced, many of the country's leading supermarkets have been clearing their shelves of all deposit-hit cans and bottles.

TERRA.WIRE