The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) was designed to harmonise packaging rules across the bloc, but small traders have been struggling with stringent requirements and feel that they are priced out of the single market. Elisabeth Skoda, editor at large at Packaging Europe, takes a look at the challenges they face, and the steps being taken to remedy the situation.
PPWR rules state that companies which export packaged products have to look after the pack’s disposal.
Traders have to register separately in each country they export to, a step that reportedly can cost over €500 per EU country. In addition, companies that don’t have a branch in a target country need to appoint an authorized representative as a person or entity in charge of packaging compliance in the respective country. Costs for this can range between €200 and €800 per country. These costs can easily be absorbed by bigger companies, but can prove challenging for smaller players.
According to media reports, including from German newspaper Die Welt, many small traders within the bloc have announced that they won’t be shipping to EU countries any more as the administrative burden is too high.
The newspaper cites a confidential conversation with a ‘high ranking EU official’ who acknowledged that the regulation fragments the single market, and changes need to be made. The aim is for traders to only have to do one single registration, and to scrap the need for an authorized representative altogether.
“Nobody needs to stop the export of products,“ die Welt quotes the EU official. “We encourage member states to not apply the rules and to not hand out penalties.”
More concretely, the European Commission’s social media team commented the following on an Instagram post by German retail organization Händlerbund, discussing the challenges small traders face:
“We have requested the European Parliament and the EU member states to abolish the obligation for EU companies to nominate an authorized representative and drafted a bill in December 2025, which now has to be approved by EU legislators. In the meantime, we also recommended that national authorities not sanction companies that don’t fulfil the requirements but issue a formal warning instead.”
According to the German retail organization Händlerbund, however, discussions of the proposals were suspended a few weeks ago after a majority of member states spoke out against it.
The organization states that a restricted version, granting an exemption only to micro-enterprises with up to 49 employees and an annual turnover of a maximum of 10 million euros is on the table, with a first reading in the European parliament scheduled for October 2026 at the earliest.
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