Articles · 2026-09-17
Who needs an EPR authorised representative under the PPWR?
Under PPWR Article 45(3), only a producer selling packaging directly to end users in another EU country must appoint an EPR authorised representative there.
Many guides say that every company selling packaged goods into another EU country must appoint an authorised representative there. The Regulation is narrower. Article 45(3) binds one kind of producer only, and national laws add rules of their own.
What does Article 45(3) require?
A producer referred to in Article 3(1), point (15)(c) and (d), must appoint, by written mandate, an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility in each member state where it first makes packaging or packaged products available, other than the one where it is established. The representative then fulfils that producer's EPR obligations in that country.
Who is the producer in points (c) and (d)?
A manufacturer, importer or distributor, established in a member state or in a third country, that for the first time makes packaging or packaged products available directly to end users in another member state. Point (c) covers transport, service and primary production packaging; point (d) covers other packaged products. The sales method does not matter — distance selling included.
The producer for EPR is not always the manufacturer under the PPWR. Who the manufacturer of transport packaging is is a separate question.
Do I need one if I sell to a distributor abroad?
Not under Article 45(3). If your buyer is established in the other country and makes the goods available there for the first time, that buyer is the producer there under points (a) or (b). It registers and reports; you do not. Sweden's Naturvårdsverket states the main rule the same way.
Can a business customer be an end user?
Yes, if it uses the goods itself and does not pass the packaging on. Czech law, for example, defines "another end user" as a business that buys packaging for its own activity and does not put it into further circulation (§ 2(p) of Act 477/2001). A crate that stays at a factory abroad can bring you under the rule; a crate that a wholesaler resells does not.
What about companies outside the EU?
Article 45(3) does not oblige them. Each member state may decide whether producers established in third countries must appoint a representative. Naturvårdsverket says this plainly and has proposed that Sweden require one from producers both inside and outside the EU.
Was the obligation postponed?
No. In December 2025 the Commission proposed suspending Article 45(3) until 1 January 2035 (COM(2025) 982). On 24 June 2026 the Council reported that negotiations on the representative proposals had been discontinued. Article 45(3) has applied since 12 August 2026.
What do national laws say?
National rules differ, and not every one has been rewritten for the PPWR yet.
- Czechia — optional for a person not established in Czechia (§ 13a(1)); mandatory for a distance seller supplying single-use plastic packaging listed in parts C or D of Annex 4 directly to consumers or other end users (§ 13a(2)). The representative must be established in Czechia, and an authorised packaging company such as EKO-KOM may not act as one (§ 20(10)).
- Hungary — optional for a producer established abroad (§ 10(1) of Decree 80/2023); mandatory for one selling into Hungary as an e-commerce service (§ 10(2)). The representative must be established in Hungary with a Hungarian tax number and is liable for the producer's obligations (§ 10(3)).
- Spain — a foreign manufacturer with a subsidiary in Spain need not appoint one, and a producer responsibility organisation cannot register a producer without its prior mandate (MITECO).
Every country is in our EPR table by country.
What a spreadsheet cannot do here
A spreadsheet adds up kilograms per country. It does not say who received each shipment — a reseller or an end user — and that is the fact that decides whether Article 45(3) applies. Two rows with the same weight to the same country can carry two different obligations.
What Tarafex does
Each shipment records its destination country and whether it went to a business or a consumer, and the report keeps them apart. Business is not the same as reseller, so the free EPR obligation check asks who receives the goods before anything else. Tarafex does not appoint representatives and does not register you; it keeps the figures a representative or a scheme will ask for. If the producer duty is yours, see EPR registration or PRO membership.
Sources: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Article 3(1)(15), Article 45(3); Naturvårdsverket, Packaging producer – what applies to you; COM(2025) 982; Council of the EU, 24 June 2026; Czech Act 477/2001, consolidated text of 1 December 2025, § 2(p), § 13a, § 20(10); Hungarian Government Decree 80/2023, § 10; MITECO, Registro de Productores de Producto – envases. Checked 17 September 2026. This is information, not legal advice.