Small businesses secure partial victory over controversial EU packaging rules

The EU’s new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) began to apply on 12 August. The requirements of PPWR have put small business owners in a particularly difficult position. Even businesses selling small quantities of goods to several EU countries must, under the current PPWAR rules, find out what rules apply in each destination country. Where required, they must join a producer responsibility organization in the destination country to arrange waste management and recycling, as well as pay the required fees.

The EU PPWR also currently requires producers engaged in distance selling within the EU to appoint an authorized representative in every member state where they sell packaged products directly to end users.

“This requirement is estimated to cost micro and small businesses as much as several thousand euros a year per export destination,” Tiina Toivonen, Legislative Affairs Manager at Suomen Yrittäjät, the Finnish SME association.

For example, Mauri Meronen, a Tampere-based solo entrepreneur who manufactures and exports 3D-printed flutes to EU countries, told Yrittäjät.fi earlier this autumn that the new regulation would cost him around €7,000–17,000 a year. Meronen then wondered whether exports were still worth it.

Good news from the European Parliament

This week, however, there was good news for entrepreneurs from the European Parliament: the requirement to appoint an authorized representative could be temporarily suspended. The European Parliament’s ENVI committee voted to temporarily suspend the requirement for micro and small businesses operating in the EU to appoint an authorized representative under extended producer responsibility (EPR) rules.

“The suspension would remain in force until 1 January 2035, provided that the proposed EU Circular Economy Act expected in November provides a framework for reforming extended producer responsibility,” Toivonen adds.

The proposal for a suspension will next go to a vote at the European Parliament’s second plenary session in the second half of October.

“This is a welcome reform that we have worked hard to bring about this autumn. It’s not enough on its own, though. “We also need exemptions from other requirements, for example for businesses below a certain size or handling small parcel quantities,” Toivonen says.

“We also need a single contact point through which businesses could meet their country-specific obligations across the EU.”

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