EU Packaging EPR under the PPWR: Producers, Registers, Fees and Authorised Representatives

Packaging EPR under the PPWR is the duty of the producer to finance, and where required organise, the collection and treatment of the packaging it first makes available in a Member State, under Article 45 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 since 12 August 2026. The Regulation entered into force on 11 February 2025 and applies generally from 12 August 2026 (Art. 71), and from that date the producer must also register in every Member State where it first makes packaging available, report each year by 1 June and, in two cases, appoint an authorised representative for EPR. Who counts as the producer decides everything else: a manufacturer, an importer or a distributor can be the producer, in five cases listed in Art. 3(1)(15)(a) to (e).

Articles 44 to 47 of the PPWR, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, set one EU framework for packaging EPR, but registers, schemes and fees stay national. A producer selling in three Member States therefore holds three registrations, files three reports and pays into three schemes. Rules that depend on Commission acts, such as fee modulation by recyclability grade and the harmonised register format, do not apply yet: those acts are not adopted as of 24 October 2026.

This page defines packaging EPR, maps the six groups that carry an EPR duty since 12 August 2026, explains producer responsibility organisations and their authorisation, lists the dated and the pending rules, and shows how the national layer works in Germany and France. Every rule cites its article of the PPWR; case-by-case questions go to the competent authority of the Member State concerned.

Compiled by the PackagingRegulation.org Editorial Team from the Regulation's text on EUR-Lex and the cited official sources. Every date and article reference is checked; see our methodology and fact-checking.

What Is Packaging EPR under the PPWR?

Extended producer responsibility for packaging is a scheme under Articles 8 and 8a of Directive 2008/98/EC that the PPWR applies to packaging in Article 45(1), with Chapter VIII Section 3 adding the packaging-specific rules. Directive 2008/98/EC, the Waste Framework Directive (OJ L 312, 22.11.2008, p. 3), supplies the general EPR model; the PPWR rules on registration, reporting and fee modulation prevail over it as lex specialis (recital 128 PPWR). Packaging EPR means that the producer, not the taxpayer, pays for the end-of-life of the packaging it first makes available in a Member State.

What do the producer's EPR contributions pay for? Three cost items are named in the Regulation, listed below.

• Scheme costs under Articles 8 and 8a of Directive 2008/98/EC: the collection, transport and treatment of packaging waste, as Art. 45(1) PPWR applies them.
• Receptacle labelling and waste surveys: the labelling of waste receptacles under Art. 13 and the compositional surveys of mixed municipal waste (Art. 45(2) PPWR).
• Return and waste management: producers and PROs finance it under Art. 48(1), (5) and Art. 50, free of charge for consumers (Art. 47(3)(b) PPWR).

Packaging EPR covers every packaging material, not only plastic. Glass, paper and cardboard, ferrous metal, aluminium, wood and plastic packaging all fall under the same Articles 44 to 47, and the annual report lists the weights per material (Annex IX Part B). EPR for plastic packaging is therefore the same EU rule as EPR for paper or glass packaging.

Is packaging EPR the same as the PPWR?

No: the PPWR is the whole Regulation (EU) 2025/40, and packaging EPR is one part of it, Articles 44 to 47 in Chapter VIII, run through national registers and schemes in each Member State. The Regulation (CELEX 32025R0040, OJ L, 2025/40, 22.1.2025) also sets product requirements in Chapters II and III, such as substance limits, recyclability, recycled content and labelling, which EPR does not replace.

A producer can comply with EPR and still breach a product requirement, and the reverse. Registration in a national register says nothing about whether the packaging meets Art. 5 to 12 PPWR.

Packaging EPR Obligations since 12 August 2026: Who Does What

Six groups carry packaging EPR obligations under the PPWR since 12 August 2026: producers, their authorised representatives, PROs, online platforms, fulfilment service providers and distributors, which check that a producer is registered (Art. 19(2)(a) and Art. 44 to 47). A producer that is not registered, and has no registered representative, may not make packaging available in that Member State (Art. 44(4)).

The table below summarises six duties: who is the producer under the PPWR, producer registration and reporting, EPR fees and eco-modulation, the authorised representative for EPR, the checks by online marketplaces and fulfilment service providers, and the distributor check.

Online platforms obtain the producer's Art. 44 registration details and number in the consumer's Member State plus a self-certification before they let the producer offer packaged goods (Art. 45(4)(a), (b)). Fulfilment service providers receive the registration information when the contract is concluded, check it on a best-efforts basis and suspend the service if it is not corrected (Art. 45(7), (8)); the producer can challenge that suspension before a court of the Member State where the fulfilment service provider is established (Art. 45(9)). Producers that make less than 10 tonnes of packaging available per calendar year in a Member State file a lighter report under Annex IX Part B point 2 (Art. 44(8) PPWR); there is no de minimis exemption from registration or EPR.

Producer Responsibility Organisations under Article 46 of the PPWR

A producer responsibility organisation is a legal entity that financially, or financially and operationally, organises the fulfilment of EPR obligations on behalf of several producers (Art. 3(1)(66) PPWR). Producers may entrust a PRO with their EPR obligations, and where they do, the PRO meets the Art. 44 register obligations for them unless the Member State specifies otherwise (Art. 44(2)).

Article 46 of the PPWR sets five rules for PROs, listed below.

• Entrust a PRO voluntarily: membership is optional at EU level, but a Member State may make it mandatory (Art. 46(1)).
• Cover the whole territory: PROs and producers that comply individually together cover the entire Member State, overseen by an independent third party or the competent authority (Art. 46(2)).
• Keep producer data confidential: data attributable to individual producers or their authorised representatives stays confidential (Art. 46(3)).
• Publish yearly: at least once a year a PRO publishes the quantities of packaging made available and the levels of recovered and recycled materials (Art. 46(4)).
• Treat producers equally: regardless of origin or size, with no disproportionate burden on producers of small quantities, including SMEs (Art. 46(5)).

Which documents link the producer to its PRO in the register? At registration the producer declares how it meets Art. 45, including the PRO certificate where it has entrusted a PRO (Annex IX Part A). The same Part A asks for the producer's name, brands, address, single contact point, the details of any authorised representative and its national identification, trade register and tax numbers. A producer with no PRO declares its individual scheme instead, and that individual scheme needs its own authorisation, explained in the next section.

How are PROs and individual producers authorised under Article 47?

PROs, and producers that fulfil their EPR obligations individually, need an authorisation under Article 47 of the PPWR, and the verification takes at most 18 weeks from a complete dossier (Art. 47(2)). The 18-week limit is longer than the 12 weeks a register has to issue a registration number after a complete application (Art. 44(11)(b)); the two time limits apply to different procedures and are never swapped.

Each authorised scheme provides an adequate guarantee that covers waste management costs if the PRO or individual producer fails to comply, ceases its activity or becomes insolvent; a Member State may accept a public fund as that guarantee (Art. 47(6)). Oversight sits with an independent third party or the competent authority (Art. 46(2)).

The authorised scheme finances the return and waste management of packaging waste in line with Art. 48(1) and (5) and Art. 50, free of charge for consumers (Art. 47(3)(b)). That financing link connects EPR to separate collection and to the deposit and return systems of Art. 50.

When Do the Packaging EPR Rules Apply?

The packaging EPR rules of Articles 44 to 47 apply since 12 August 2026, while fee modulation and the harmonised register format depend on Commission acts that are not adopted as of 24 October 2026. The table lists each dated EPR obligation, oldest first, with its status.

Two dates in the table need care. Article 12(9) of the PPWR reads, in its English wording, "By 12 February 2027, packaging included in an EPR scheme may be identified ... only by means of a corresponding symbol in a QR code or other standardised, open, digital-marking technology"; the provision is quoted here as written and is not turned into an application date. The end-user information duty applies from 12 August 2028 or the date of application of the relevant Art. 12 provision, whichever is the latest (Art. 55(1)(d)). The Regulation sets no fine amount: Member States lay down the penalties by 12 February 2027 (Art. 68).

What is still pending on 24 October 2026?

Three EPR items are pending as of 24 October 2026: the Art. 44(14) implementing act on the register format, the proposed suspension of Art. 45(3) in COM(2025) 982, and the Art. 6(4) and 6(5) acts that trigger fee modulation.

The register-format act under Art. 44(14) was due 12 February 2026 and is not adopted as of 24 October 2026; a draft (Ares(2026)7688068) has been published for feedback on the Commission's Have Your Say portal. The register-format act is one of the overdue PPWR delegated acts and implementing acts: no PPWR implementing act exists yet, and the only adopted delegated act is Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/429. Until the act applies, each Member State keeps its own register format, and the harmonised format follows within 18 months of the first Art. 44(14) act entering into force (Art. 44(1)).

COM(2025) 982, the Commission proposal of 10 December 2025 (procedure 2025/0395(COD)), would suspend the application of Art. 45(3) PPWR until 1 January 2035, together with the EPR authorised representative rule for batteries in Art. 56(3) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1542, covered on eubatteryregulation.com. The European Parliament adopted amendments on 20 October 2026 (T10-0345/2026) and referred the file back to the ENVI committee for interinstitutional negotiations, according to the Legislative Observatory. There is no first-reading position, and nothing is suspended as of 24 October 2026: Art. 45(3) applies.

Fee modulation becomes mandatory 18 months after the entry into force of both the Art. 6(4) delegated acts (due 1 January 2028) and the Art. 6(5) implementing acts (due 1 January 2030), under Art. 6(8). No fixed date can be given until both acts exist. Each further stage of COM(2025) 982 and the adoption of each act will appear in PPWR news.

How Is Packaging EPR Run in the 27 Member States?

The PPWR sets one EPR framework, but each Member State keeps its own producer register, competent authority and schemes, so a producer selling in several Member States registers and reports in each of them (Art. 44(2) PPWR). Member States may also require information beyond the PPWR where it is necessary and proportionate, according to the Commission's PPWR FAQ (non-binding), section XVIII. The table compares PPWR in Germany, including the LUCID packaging register, PPWR in France and PPWR in the 27 member states as a whole.

Germany uses both sentences of Art. 45(3): VerpackDG § 5(2) requires an EPR authorised representative for producers without a German establishment that sell directly to end users and for third-country producers, the option the second sentence grants. One representative acts per producer under a written mandate in German, while LUCID registration and the data reports stay the producer's own duty. Newly obliged producers had to register in LUCID by 12 September 2026, and existing registrants update their data by 12 November 2026 (VerpackDG § 68(2)).

Does packaging EPR apply to importers and non-EU sellers?

Yes: an importer established in the Union is the producer when it first makes packaging available in a Member State, and a seller in a third country is the producer only when it supplies end users in a Member State directly (Art. 3(1)(15)(c), (d) PPWR). An importer is a natural or legal person established in the Union that places packaging from a third country on the market (Art. 3(1)(17)). Only one producer exists per packaging unit per Member State of first making available, so a third-country seller supplying a business customer is not the producer: the EU importer or distributor is. The product duties of an importer are set out in PPWR obligations of importers, beside its EPR duties as producer.

A producer under Art. 3(1)(15)(c) or (d) appoints an EPR authorised representative by written mandate in each Member State where it first makes packaging available, other than its own (Art. 45(3) first sentence), and Member States may require third-country producers to appoint one as well (second sentence).

A UK company is treated like any other third-country seller under the EU rules described in PPWR for non-EU exporters; UK packaging EPR itself is not covered on this site.

How Does Packaging EPR Connect to the Rest of the PPWR?

Packaging EPR depends on four other parts of the PPWR: the recyclability grades that will modulate fees, the labelling rule for the EPR symbol, the collection and deposit systems that EPR finances, and the operator obligations that sit beside it. The table links the PPWR legal text, the PPWR timeline, PPWR Article 6 recyclability, the PPWR labelling requirements, EU packaging waste, deposit return systems under the PPWR and PPWR compliance, each with its link to EPR.

The grades link product design to cost: once Art. 6(8) applies, a producer whose packaging reaches grade A pays a fee modulated differently from one whose packaging reaches only grade C.

Two authorised representatives: Article 17 and Article 45(3)

The PPWR has two different authorised representatives: the optional product-compliance representative of Art. 17, established in the Union, and the EPR representative of Art. 45(3), established in the Member State concerned. The Art. 17 representative is defined in Art. 3(1)(19) and acts for the manufacturer on product compliance. The EPR representative is defined in Art. 3(1)(20): it is established in the Member State where the producer first makes packaging available, other than the producer's own, and fulfils the producer's Chapter VIII obligations. One mandate does not cover the other.

What the Commission FAQ and guidance say about packaging EPR

The Commission's PPWR FAQ (non-binding), section XVIII, answers EPR questions, and Commission Notice C/2026/3084 (OJ C, 10.6.2026) is the non-binding guidance document; where either differs from the Regulation, the Regulation wins. The FAQ, 2nd edition (August 2026), confirms in section XVIII that there is no de minimis exemption from registration or EPR and no general micro-enterprise exemption. It also says that online platforms may pay EPR fees on written mandate, while registration and reporting stay with the producer, its PRO or its representative unless the platform is appointed representative, and that Member States may ask for extra data where necessary and proportionate. The Notice is the Commission's guidance; both documents are compared in PPWR guidance and FAQ.

Packaging EPR questions answered

Can a PRO or an authorised representative register for the producer?

Yes, where the Member State allows it: a PRO entrusted by the producer meets the Art. 44 register obligations unless the Member State specifies otherwise (Art. 44(2) PPWR). An EPR authorised representative fulfils the producer's Chapter VIII obligations under its written mandate (Art. 3(1)(20)), but national law can keep registration with the producer, as Germany does for LUCID.

Is there a minimum quantity below which packaging EPR does not apply?

No: there is no minimum quantity for registration or EPR; producers that make less than 10 tonnes of packaging available per calendar year in a Member State only file a lighter report (Art. 44(8)). The 10-tonne reporting relief is explained in PPWR rules for micro-enterprises.

Must a producer join a producer responsibility organisation?

No, not under EU law: the PPWR makes PRO membership optional, but a Member State may make it mandatory (Art. 46(1)). A producer that complies individually needs an Art. 47 authorisation instead.

Are there EU-wide EPR fee rates for 2026?

No: the PPWR sets no fee rate; fees are set nationally by schemes and Member States. Fee modulation by recyclability grade becomes mandatory only 18 months after both the Art. 6(4) and the Art. 6(5) acts (Art. 6(8)).