Marius Cristian Brînzea · Managing Partner
23 October 20264 min read
Art. 45 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) requires producers selling packaging or packaged products in a member state where they are not established to appoint an authorised representative there for extended producer responsibility (EPR). In December 2025, the European Commission proposed temporarily suspending this obligation for EU-established producers (COM(2025) 982 - packaging and batteries). This week, both co-legislators fixed their positions.
On 20 October, the European Parliament adopted its first-reading position in plenary: the suspension applies only to EU micro and small enterprises (fewer than 50 employees and at most EUR 10 million turnover or balance sheet), temporarily, until 2035 or until the future Circular Economy Act is adopted.
The next day, the Council agreed its negotiating mandate, with a different logic: the exemption would cover producers making available less than 1 tonne of packaging per calendar year in a member state - a threshold calculated per country, not on total EU sales. The mandate adds a safeguard clause (the exemption is lost if EPR obligations are breached) and a review clause: the Commission reassesses the suspension by 31 December 2030, ahead of its scheduled expiry in 2032.
Parliament's criterion looks at company size, the Council's at the volume sold on each market. A medium-sized company occasionally selling small quantities in another member state would be exempt under the Council's version, but not under Parliament's. Conversely, a small company with large volumes in a single country would benefit from Parliament's version, but not from the 1-tonne threshold. The final form will be decided in negotiations between the two institutions, announced to start as soon as possible.
One thing is common to both versions, though: the burden of proof falls on the producer. Whichever criterion wins, you will need either documents attesting your micro or small enterprise status, or records of packaging tonnage for each member state where you sell.
Do not terminate your authorised-representative contracts: nothing is in force yet, and lacking a representative can block your sales in the destination state. Instead, start tracking your packaging tonnage for each country where you sell - under either threshold, documented per-market figures will be the condition for the exemption. And if you are a micro or small enterprise, keep the documents proving that status at hand.
Circulad'OR provides the authorised representative service for packaging in Romania and can tell you, based on your sales flows, where you have EPR obligations and what evidence you will need to prepare whichever version wins. And with Yvora, your packaging records - materials, weights, markets - sit in one place, ready to report. If you sell cross-border, write to us.
The first conversation is free: you find out what applies to you, by when, and who does it - you, us, or the application.