Packaging and EPR: who is actually responsible

EPR does not automatically apply to everyone who sells. It applies to specific roles and product groups. In a marketplace, the most common obligation arises when an entity packages a product and is the first to place it in that packaging on a national market, imports or acquires the packaged product from another EU country or from outside the EU, offers its own brand, or places equipment, batteries, tyres, oils, or products covered by a separate EPR scheme on the market.

Do not confuse the two questions:

• GPSR: who is the manufacturer/importer/distributor and is the product safe?
• EPR: who places packaging or a specific product group on the market and has an obligation to register and account for it?

The same person may have both roles, one of them, or neither.

Platform rule for packaging#

First, determine the seller's status. EPR obligations for those placing packaged products on the market apply to an entrepreneur conducting business activity. Registration should not be requested automatically from a person who occasionally sells privately, nor, as a rule, from a person properly conducting activity that national law does not treat as business activity at all (in Poland, unregistered activity under the Entrepreneurship Law).

Only from a seller who is an entrepreneur does the platform determine:

1. Are they importing a product in packaging from another EU country or from outside the EU?
2. Are they packaging their own or someone else's product themselves and are the first to place it in that packaging on the market where it is sold?
3. Are you adding unit, collective, or shipping packaging before sending to the customer?
4. Does the product belong to a group covered by a separate EPR scheme, for example electrical equipment, batteries, tyres, oils, or single-use products?

If the entrepreneur answers 'yes', the platform requires the identification of the responsible entity, the EPR registration number, and the relevant scope of the entry, or documented proof why the obligation rests with another entity.

Specific Scenarios#

The 1 Mg threshold - what it really means#

Thresholds and exemptions of this kind are set nationally, so they have to be checked per market. In Poland, an entrepreneur placing no more than 1 Mg of packaging per year on the market may, after meeting de minimis aid conditions and filing documents on time, obtain an exemption from certain financial obligations, including the product fee. That exemption does not remove registration, record-keeping, or annual reporting.

Fees are national as well. In Poland, the registration fee for micro-entrepreneurs is currently PLN 200 and the annual fee is also PLN 200, due by the end of February; in the year the registration fee is paid, the annual fee is not paid on top. For other entities the rate is PLN 800.

PPWR from August 12, 2026 - a new EU layer#

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) is being applied in stages from August 12, 2026. It does not immediately replace national EPR mechanisms; it adds common requirements for packaging across the EU.

As of today, the platform should implement the following rules:

• packaging placed on the EU market must meet the applicable PPWR requirements, including the general requirement for recyclability; detailed recycling design classes will be phased in later;
• food-contact packaging must not exceed the PFAS limits applicable from August 12, 2026; for flower shops, this applies to food additives, for example, not the bouquet itself;
• the entity designing/manufacturing the packaging and the entity introducing it must store the required documentation and perform their roles in accordance with PPWR;
• for new packaging materials, the fulfillment provider/operator collects the supplier's specification and proof of conformity, not just the purchase invoice;
• the development plan includes later deadlines: harmonized labels around 2028, and from 2030, among others, a limit of maximum 50% empty space for e-commerce and transport packaging, according to a future calculation method.

An average marketplace, to which Section 4 of Chapter III of the DSA applies, before allowing a producer offering packaging or a product in packaging to consumers in the EU, obtains for the consumer's country:

• information about the producer's registration in the relevant EPR register and the registration number; and
• self-certification that it only offers packaging that meets the obligations of extended producer responsibility.

Subsequently, it makes best efforts to assess the completeness and reliability of the information, particularly through official registers. A micro or small operator exempted from the relevant DSA section still complies with national EPR and other regulations, and it is worth building the same mechanism earlier, as it will be needed after growth and when selling to other countries.

What the platform should require and store#

• status: entrepreneur, unregistered activity, or private sale, along with the date of declaration;
• from an entrepreneur subject to the obligation – the EPR registration number and the entity name consistent with the register;
• the scope/field of entry corresponding to the role and products, not just the number;
• indication of who is packaging and who holds data on packaging weight;
• confirmation of update upon change of fulfillment, import, or category;
• for a seller without a number: a specific description of the chain and the responsible entity, approved in the exception process;
• annual reminder before the end of February and March 15;
• blocking a new category if it requires a different EPR scheme.

The operator does not settle EPR for sellers, but cannot ignore deficiencies#

In the standard model, the seller-entrepreneur subject to the obligation performs their own registration, record-keeping, payments, and reporting. The operator:

• describes the requirement in the agreement;
• collects and periodically checks the number and role only from entities to whom the obligation applies;
• enables data export on sales if it can help the seller with record-keeping;
• transmits reports from fulfillment on material weights attributed to the seller, if such a model is agreed upon;
• suspends the category or sale if the required obligation is not clarified.

Basis and sources: PPWR – Regulation (EU) 2025/40; Commission Guidelines to PPWR from 2026; Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management (Poland) – text in force in 2026; Biznes.gov.pl (Poland) – unregistered activity is not economic activity; BDO (Poland) – national EPR register and information; Marshal's Office of the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship (Poland) – BDO register and fees; official Polish information on the 1 Mg threshold and the 15 March deadline.