EU PPWR FAQs Updated August 2026 - Flipbook - Page 62
XVIII.
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY
1) Are micro-enterprises exempted from Extended producer responsibility (EPR)
obligations?
There is no general exemption for micro-enterprises from EPR obligations in the PPWR or
Directive 2008/98/EC (Waste Framework Directive (WFD)). All producers are responsible for
waste management of the packaging that they make available on the territory of a Member State
for the first time. This includes registering in and reporting to that Member State9s register of
producers according to Article 44.
To minimise administrative burdens on small producers, the PPWR sets fewer reporting obligations
on producers who make less than 10 tonnes a year of packaging available on the market of a
Member State. Furthermore, Member States and producer responsibility organisations (PRO) must
ensure equal treatment of producers regardless of their origin or size and must not place
disproportionate burdens on small producers.
Member States continue to have the right to invoke lower administrative fees for smaller producers
as established in the WFD after the application of PPWR. WFD establishes that were justified by
the need to ensure proper waste management and the economic viability of the extended producer
responsibility scheme, Member States may, provide that:
• in the case of extended producer responsibility schemes established to attain waste management
targets and objectives established under legislative acts of the Union, the producers of products
bear at least 80% of the necessary costs;
• in the case of extended producer responsibility schemes established on or after 4 July 2018 to
attain waste management targets and objectives solely established in Member State legislation,
the producers of products bear at least 80% of the necessary costs;
• in the case of extended producer responsibility schemes established before 4 July 2018 to attain
waste management targets and objectives solely established in Member State legislation, the
producers of products bear at least 50% of the necessary costs;
• and provided that the remaining costs are borne by original waste producers or distributors. This
derogation may not be used to lower the proportion of costs borne by producers of products under
extended producer responsibility schemes established before 4 July 2018.
The PPWR establishes that the producer is either the manufacturer, importer or distributor of
packaging 3 depending on the context and whether the packaging is transport, sales, grouped,
primary or service packaging. If a manufacturer is a micro-enterprise and that manufacturer is also
the producer of the packaging, it will be exempted from its EPR-requirements when the supplier of
the packaging materials is established in the same Member State.
2) To what extent does the PPWR harmonise national EPR schemes?
The PPWR harmonises certain administrative EPR obligations to lower the administrative burden
for economic operators selling packaging or packaged products in multiple Member States. These
requirements are related to registration, reporting deadlines and frequency, and the granularity of
the data that needs to be reported.
The PPWR also harmonises who the producer is in a Member State. It is the packaging type and
selling technique that determine whether a company is responsible for EPR obligations. Further
information on how the definition of the producer applies, can be found under point II of this
document.
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