Selling packaged products in other EU countries? The Commission has published the EPR guide for small businesses

In shortIn mid-October the European Commission published an official guide on extended producer responsibility (EPR) obligations for companies selling packaged products in other Member States. Three messages matter: national EPR registration remains mandatory in every country where you sell, producers with under 10 tonnes of packaging a year are entitled to simplified procedures and reduced fees, and Member States are asked not to apply sanctions for the missing authorised representative while the suspension proposal is still being negotiated.

What the Commission's guide says

Since 12 August 2026, Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) applies directly across the Union, and EPR works on a simple principle: you pay for managing the packaging in the country where it becomes waste. For a Romanian company selling online in Hungary, Germany or France, that means obligations in each of those countries.

The guide published by the Commission confirms that existing national EPR registrations remain valid and mandatory - PPWR did not replace them - and asks Member States and producer responsibility organisations not to burden small producers disproportionately: under 10 tonnes of packaging a year, they may benefit from exemptions from administrative fees, proportionate flat-rate fees, accelerated procedures, help desks and fewer audits. The practical condition: being able to prove the tonnage, market by market.

The authorised representative: a pause in sanctions, not in obligations

Art. 45 PPWR requires producers selling in a Member State where they are not established to appoint an authorised representative for EPR. Brussels has proposed suspending this obligation for EU companies - a topic we have covered at length - but the proposal is still in the legislative procedure, between Parliament and Council. Until a decision, the Commission asks Member States, through this guide, for a "constructive and pragmatic" application and for refraining from sanctions.

Be careful, though: a guide is not law. The obligation still exists, and national authorities decide on their own whether and how they enforce it. And for non-EU companies selling in Romania, nothing changes: the authorised representative remains mandatory, now and after the reform.

What comes next: harmonised register and marketplace checks

The Commission announces single EPR registration and reporting rules at European level; after their adoption, Member States will have 18 months to adapt their national registers. Once the registers are operational, online platforms will be required to ask for the EPR registration number before allowing a sale - marketplace sellers without registration will simply be blocked.

What you can do now: list the countries where you sell and the packaging tonnage on each market, check where you have (or do not have) valid EPR registrations, and keep your authorised-representative contracts until a decision is published in the Official Journal.

Key points:

The guide confirms: EPR is owed in every country where the packaging becomes waste - selling online in another Member State triggers obligations there, not only in Romania.
Under 10 tonnes of packaging a year you are entitled to simplified procedures and reduced fees - but you must be able to prove the tonnage on each market.
"No sanctions" is a recommendation by the Commission to Member States, not a legal guarantee - do not drop your authorised representative on the strength of it.

Legal basis: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR), in particular Art. 45; proposal COM(2025) 982 for the temporary suspension of the obligation to appoint an authorised representative (in the legislative procedure); in Romania, Law no. 249/2015 on the management of packaging and packaging waste and Emergency Ordinance no. 196/2005 on the Environmental Fund, as amended.

What we do

Circulad'OR acts as authorised representative and can tell you, based on your sales flows, in which countries you have EPR obligations and which of them can be simplified. And with Yvora, your packaging data - materials, weights, markets - sits in one place, ready to report wherever needed. Write to us.