What Applies Upon the PPWR’s Entry into Force
Under the PPWR — whose implementation in Germany is ensured and supplemented by the Packaging Law Implementation Act (“VerpackDG”) — the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) applies to retailers who export goods to other member states and to manufacturers as defined in Art. 3(1)(14) of the PPWR. Accordingly, manufacturers must bear the costs of the packaging waste they generate. Depending on the supply chain, manufacturers within the meaning of the PPWR may be producers, importers, or distributors (Art. 3(1)(15) PPWR). The definition of “manufacturer” thus generally includes small (online) retailers as well.
For each member state to which goods are exported, the obligations of a manufacturer include, in particular:
- the payment of an EPR fee (Art. 45(2) PPWR)
- a requirement to register in the respective national registry (Art. 44(2) PPWR)
- the obligation to appoint an authorized representative (Art. 45(3) PPWR)
In Germany, a violation may be sanctioned by imposing a fine of up to €200,000 pursuant to Section 66(3) of the Packaging Act (VerpackDG).
What the New Obligations Mean for Small Retailers
The fees for EPR, registration, and authorized representatives are charged separately for each member state. Their amount is therefore determined not by the volume of exports, but by the number of countries supplied. This particularly affects small retailers, for whom international sales may no longer be profitable due to the high costs associated with comparatively small packaging volumes. Some retailers have therefore warned that they may be forced to cease or reduce doing business in other EU countries.
Proposed Amendments
On September 7, 2026, during a preparatory meeting in Brussels on the so-called “Environmental Omnibus,” the German government presented an amendment proposal aimed at providing targeted relief to smaller businesses in implementing the PPWR.
Specifically, the proposal includes two relief measures:
- “Retailers who place fewer than ten metric tons of packaging on the market per year should not be required to appoint an authorized representative;
- registration in the new system should be suspended until mid-2028, until a central European registration system for manufacturers has become operational.”
Small retailers whose packaging volume falls below the ten-metric-ton threshold would thus benefit from the elimination of the authorized representative fee. In addition, the introduction of a central registry—in which a single registration of packaging is valid for all member states—would reduce the bureaucratic burden.
What Needs to Be Considered Now
The German federal government’s proposed amendment would have to be implemented in the PPWR itself; a national implementation would not be sufficient. It therefore requires the approval of the Council of Ministers (Council of the European Union) as well as of the European Parliament. Already on December 10, 2025, i.e. before the PPWR became effective, the European Commission already submitted a proposal as part of Omnibus Package VIII, pursuant to which the authorized representative requirement would be suspended for European manufacturers. However, negotiations have since been stopped due to strong reservations on the part of several member states.
Therefore, until the PPWR is amended, the current legal situation remains unchanged, meaning that there is no legal certainty as of now regarding the proposed adjustments for small retailers. For now, they can only hope for application of the request to remedy non-compliance as provided for in Article 62 of the PPWR, which takes precedence over any sanctions. Sanctions may only be imposed if non-compliance persists after an according request. In its PPWR FAQ (Section XVI, “Enforcement of the new rules”), the European Commission also generally advocates a corrective (rather than punitive) approach. And since the proposed amendment was introduced by the German federal government itself, it can be assumed that it will, in any case, follow the Commission’s recommendation. For small retailers in Germany, this is at least a promising development that will hopefully prevent the PPWR from “slowing down” their EU-wide sales activities.
Conclusion
A retroactive adjustment to the PPWR would not be an isolated case: In the past, the EU has on several occasions amended existing regulations or directives—such as the reporting requirements under the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)—in favor of smaller companies after it became obvious that these requierements imposed a significant burden on them in practice. To avoid far-reaching economic losses for small manufacturers as a result of the PPWR, there is a need for improvements here as well—a process that the German federal government has initiated at least.
