What is PPWR?
PPWR is the EU’s packaging law. Its official name is the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2025/40.
One law, 27 countries. It covers every package on the EU market, whatever it is made of and wherever it came from. It has applied since 12 August 2026 and replaced the packaging directive from 1994.
Who does PPWR apply to?
Packaging waste in the EU keeps growing, and the old directive let every country write its own version of the rules. PPWR is a regulation, so it is the same text, word for word, in all 27 countries. Which also means the same duties land on the same people everywhere.
Anyone who puts packaging or packaged products on the EU market: manufacturers, importers, distributors, online stores, marketplaces and fulfilment providers. Stores outside the EU that ship to EU customers are in too.
Being small does not take you out of it. There are a few narrow reliefs for micro-enterprises, but no general small-business exemption.
Who reports the packaging?
One rule decides it. Whoever first puts packaging on a country’s market is the one who reports it there.
That gives three cases:
- You filled it, printed it or imported it. You report it at home.
- You shipped the order to another EU country. You report it in that country.
- It came from a local supplier and stays in your country. They already reported it, so you leave it out.
Your role is not fixed. It is decided per order and per material, which is why the same store can be the reporter for one thing and not for another. GetPPWR applies this rule for you on every order, material by material and country by country, so it is never a judgement call you have to make at the packing table. Not sure which side you are on? The 2-minute quiz tells you.
The same rule, packaging by packaging
Product packaging you fill yourself is always yours, even if you bought the empty jar next door, because the finished sales package is the one you made. Packaging that arrives already filled, and shipping boxes you buy at home, belong to your supplier, as long as the order stays in your country.
Tape and filling material are still argued over between the Commission and the national recycling organisations, so keep counting those yourself for now.
What is EPR, and where do you report?
PPWR is the rulebook. EPR, extended producer responsibility, is the part where you register, report your quantities and pay a fee for the recycling.
Every EU country runs its own EPR system, with its own register, its own recycling organisation and its own schedule. PPWR does not replace them. It makes them consistent. So: one law, 27 places to report. GetPPWR covers both sides of that, your home country’s producer responsibility report and every other EU country you ship to.
Each country has two things: a register you sign up to, and a recycling organisation that takes your quantities and invoices you. That organisation is the one that arranges the actual collecting and recycling in that country, and your fee is what pays for it. Here is who they are, country by country. GetPPWR writes the report each one wants, in the format it wants it.
One thing to be clear about before you read the table: you can only do this yourself in your own country. In every other EU country you are not established there, so an authorised representative registers, files and pays in your name. The numbers stay yours. Only the filing is theirs.
| Country | The register | Who takes your report |
|---|---|---|
 Austria | EDM portal, coordinated by VKS | ARA, Interzero, Reclay and other licensed systems |
 Belgium | Interregional Packaging Commission (IVC/CIE) | Fost Plus for household packaging, Valipac for commercial |
 Bulgaria | NISO, Executive Environment Agency | Ecopack Bulgaria, Ecobulpack and other licensed organisations |
 Croatia | RPPO register at the Environmental Protection Fund | The Fund itself (FZOEU). No separate organisation, and you report monthly |
 Cyprus | Department of Environment | Green Dot Cyprus |
 Czechia | Ministry of the Environment list of packaging persons | EKO-KOM |
 Denmark | Dansk Producentansvar (DPA) | A shared organisation such as VANA or ERP Denmark. Mandatory since 1 October 2025 |
 Estonia | Packaging register, Ministry of Climate | ETO, TVO or Eesti Pakendiringlus |
 Finland | Producer register, Lupa- ja valvontavirasto | Suomen Pakkaustuottajat, through the Rinki extranet |
 France | ADEME, unique identifier via SYDEREP | Citeo, also Léko. Professional packaging has its own organisations since July 2026 |
 Germany | LUCID, run by ZSVR | A dual system, Germany’s name for these: Der Grüne Punkt, Interzero, Landbell and others |
 Greece | EMPA register, run by EOAN | HERRCO |
 Hungary | OKIR, with quarterly declarations | MOHU, the sole national concession holder |
 Ireland | No national packaging register yet | Repak |
 Italy | National producer register still being built | CONAI and its material consortia |
 Latvia | Producer register at the State Environmental Service | A licensed manager such as Latvijas Zaļais punkts, or pay the natural resources tax |
 Lithuania | GPAIS | Žaliasis taškas or Gamtos ateitis |
 Luxembourg | Administration de l’environnement | Valorlux |
 Malta | Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) | GreenPak or Green MT |
 Netherlands | No separate register | Verpact, formerly Afvalfonds Verpakkingen |
 Poland | BDO | A recovery organisation such as Rekopol, or the product fee. A reform is in the pipeline |
 Portugal | RPP in SILiAmb, run by APA | Sociedade Ponto Verde, Novo Verde or Electrão |
 Romania | Environmental Fund Administration (AFM) | A licensed OIREP such as Ecologic 3R or GreenPoint Management |
 Slovakia | RVVV register, Ministry of Environment | An OZV such as ENVI-PAK or NATUR-PACK |
 Slovenia | ARSO | An organisation such as Slopak or Interzero. A single-organisation model is legislated but not running yet |
 Spain | RPP, packaging section, MITECO | Ecoembes and Ecovidrio for household packaging, Envalora and others for commercial |
 Sweden | Producer register at Naturvårdsverket | NPA or TMR |
Registers and organisations change. Check the national register, or ask your representative, before anything is filed. Poland’s EPR reform and Slovenia’s single-organisation model were both still moving when this was written, and Italy’s national packaging register is not fully live yet. If EPR itself is still fuzzy, here it is in simple terms.
What PPWR asks of you right now
- Keep records of your packaging. What every package is made of, by material and weight, and which country it went to. Every report is built on these records. GetPPWR builds them automatically from your Shopify orders, so you describe your packaging once instead of counting it by hand.
- Get an authorised representative, then register. You can register yourself only in your own country. In every other EU country you sell to you are not established, so you appoint an authorised representative there, and they register and report in your name. GetPPWR shows you which countries you need one in, straight from your Shopify orders, and our friends at Lizenzero can be that representative.
- Report and pay. Each country wants to know how much packaging you put on its market, by material, on its own schedule, and charges a fee based on that. That is EPR. At home you file it yourself. In every other country your representative files it for you. GetPPWR writes each country’s report in the format that country wants, including for orders you have already shipped.
- Use safe materials. Limits on PFAS in packaging that touches food, and on heavy metals in all packaging.
- Have paperwork for your own and imported packaging. Two kinds. The reports, one for each EU country you sell in, up to 27 of them, which GetPPWR creates for you from the same records. And the conformity documents for packaging you design, brand or import, which you ask your supplier for and keep on file.
When do fines start?
The rules above have applied since 12 August 2026. By 12 February 2027, every EU country must have its penalties for breaking them in place. National EPR laws already have their own fines today, for example for selling without being registered. If you have been shipping without keeping records, GetPPWR can also go back over orders you have already sent, so the gap gets closed rather than carried forward.
The reporting is not a future thing. It applies now. February 2027 is when the penalties for skipping it are in place everywhere.
What to do first
- List the EU countries you sell in, including your own. GetPPWR shows you these automatically from your Shopify orders.
- Register at home, and get an authorised representative for the rest. The table above says which register and which organisation in each country.
- Start keeping records of your packaging, by material. GetPPWR does this for you, order by order. Here is how it works in Shopify.
- Get your packaging reported in each country, starting now. GetPPWR writes each country’s report, you file the one at home, and your representative files the rest. We work with Lizenzero for that.
- Ask your packaging suppliers for their PPWR paperwork.
- Get it all in place before 12 February 2027, when every country’s penalties must be ready.
Running a Shopify store? Here is the whole thing step by step. Or take the 2-minute quiz to find out what your own responsibilities are.
GetPPWR turns your Shopify orders into reports
GetPPWR takes care of the reporting part for Shopify stores. You describe your packaging once with automations, and it is added to every order automatically. GetPPWR then works out what packaging went to which country, by material, and writes each country’s report in the format it wants, including for orders you have already shipped. Your representative files it, and we work with Lizenzero for that.
That covers all 27 EU countries you ship to, plus your home country’s EPR report. Mark the shipping packaging you buy from a supplier in your own country, and GetPPWR leaves it out of your home EPR report, because that supplier is its producer there. Product packaging you fill yourself stays in, wherever you bought it. Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial.
Sources: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on EUR-Lex; the European Commission’s PPWR guidance and FAQ; the national registers and recycling organisations listed above.
Quick answers about PPWR
What does PPWR stand for?
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Its official name is Regulation (EU) 2025/40.
Is PPWR already law in my country?
Yes. As an EU regulation, it applies directly in every member state. No national law is needed to switch it on.
When did PPWR start?
It entered into force on 11 February 2025 and has applied since 12 August 2026. Record keeping, registration and EPR reporting apply now.
Is PPWR the same as EPR?
No. PPWR is the whole rulebook. EPR is the part where you register, report and pay, country by country. Here is EPR in simple terms.
Can I register and report myself?
In your own country, yes. In every other EU country you sell to you are not established there, so Article 45 of PPWR requires an authorised representative to register, report and pay in your name. That has applied since 12 August 2026. A pause for small EU businesses has been proposed but not adopted, and no version of it has ever covered sellers based outside the EU. Here is where that proposal stands.
Do I report packaging I bought from a local supplier?
Not in your own country, if the order stays there. The supplier already put it on that market. But the moment you ship that order to another EU country, it is yours to report there. And product packaging you fill yourself is always yours, wherever the empty jar came from.
