Last week a client forwarded us a message from the German packaging register. LUCID was asking him for an authorised representative. Amazon, on the same account, was still only asking for his EPR number. His question was simple: which of the two is right, and what do I actually have to do?
Since the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation became applicable on 12 August 2026, that question has arrived in our inbox almost daily. We act as EU Authorised Representative for more than 200 non-EU brands, so we see the confusion from both sides: sellers who have been told they need a representative in every country, and sellers who have been told they need nothing at all.
Both groups have usually read something correct. The problem is that the PPWR uses the term authorised representative for two entirely different roles, and almost every article online treats them as one. One of those roles is optional and covers all 27 member states with a single mandate. The other is mandatory for a specific group and has to be appointed country by country.
This article separates the two, with the article numbers so you can check it yourself, and then tells you which one applies to your situation.
1. The short answer
The PPWR contains two separate authorised representative roles, defined in two separate points of Article 3.
| Authorised representative | Authorised representative for EPR | |
| Defined in | Article 3(1)(19) | Article 3(1)(20) |
| Set out in | Article 17 | Article 45(3) |
| Appointed by | The manufacturer | The producer |
| Must be established | Anywhere in the EU | In that specific member state |
| Coverage | One mandate, all 27 states | One per member state |
| Covers | Conformity documentation and market surveillance | Waste and recycling obligations, Chapter VIII |
| Mandatory | No, Article 17 says the manufacturer may appoint one | Yes for one specific group, see section 4 |
| Legal basis | The PPWR itself | Article 8a(5) of Directive 2008/98/EC |
In one line: the Article 17 representative looks after your paperwork, the Article 45(3) representative pays for your packaging to be collected and recycled.
2. Why the confusion exists
The regulation itself is the source of the problem. It uses one term for two roles and separates them only in the definitions, which is the part nobody reads.
Article 3(1)(19) defines an authorised representative as a person established in the Union who has received a written mandate from the manufacturer to act on that manufacturer's behalf for specified tasks. Note two things: the mandate comes from the manufacturer, and the person only needs to be established somewhere in the Union.
Article 3(1)(20) defines an authorised representative for the extended producer responsibility as a person established in the member state where the producer makes packaging available for the first time, appointed by the producer in accordance with Article 8a(5) of the Waste Framework Directive, to fulfil the obligations under Chapter VIII of the PPWR.
Different appointer, different establishment requirement, different set of duties. There is also a structural clue: only the first of the two counts as an economic operator under the regulation. The EPR representative does not appear in that list at all.
3. Article 17: the documentation representative
Start with the sentence that most articles skip. Article 17(1) reads that a manufacturer may, by a written mandate, appoint an authorised representative. May, not shall. There is no provision in the PPWR that forces a manufacturer, including one from a third country, to appoint one.
For non-EU manufacturers the regulation handles this differently: it places the corresponding duties on the EU importer under Article 18. Someone inside the EU has to be answerable, and if you do not appoint a representative, that someone is your importer or distributor.
What the mandate has to cover
Article 17(2) sets a minimum. Any mandate must at least allow the representative to do the following.
- Keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation available to national market surveillance authorities. Five years for single use packaging, ten years for reusable packaging, counted from the moment the packaging is placed on the market.
- Cooperate with the competent national authorities on any question of non-compliance.
- Provide the information and technical documentation needed to demonstrate conformity.
- Make the requested documents available within ten days of the request. That deadline is in the regulation.
- Terminate the mandate if the manufacturer acts contrary to its obligations.
What can never be delegated
The regulation is explicit that two things stay with the manufacturer. Making the packaging compliant in the first place, meaning the sustainability requirements in Article 15(1), and drawing up the technical documentation. A representative holds that documentation and produces it on demand. A representative does not create it.
If you are appointing a representative partly because you do not have that documentation, you are solving the wrong problem first. Sort the file, then appoint.
One written mandate under Article 17 covers all 27 member states. Our EU Authorised Representative service is 150 EUR per year for unlimited packaging types, with same-day setup when your documentation is in order.
4. Article 45(3): the EPR representative
This is where the real obligation sits, and where the widely repeated claim goes wrong. Article 45(3) has two sentences, and they apply to different people.
Sentence one
A producer referred to in Article 3(1), point (15)(c) and (d), shall appoint, by written mandate, an authorised representative for the extended producer responsibility in each member state where the producer makes packaging available for the first time, other than the member state where the producer is established.
Shall, not may. So the question becomes: who falls under points (c) and (d)? Those are producers who make packaging available for the first time on the territory of another member state, directly to end users. In plain terms: cross-border distance selling straight to the consumer.
If you are established in the Netherlands and you ship to consumers in Germany and France, you are a producer under point (d) in both of those countries. You must appoint a representative in Germany and a representative in France. That obligation comes straight from the regulation and no national law is needed to trigger it.
Sentence two
Member states may provide that producers established in third countries shall appoint an authorised representative for the extended producer responsibility when making packaging available on their territory for the first time.
May provide. This is an option for member states, not a direct obligation on the producer.
So does sentence one already bind a Chinese or British seller?
This is the question everyone glosses over, and the honest answer is that the text supports two readings. The stronger reading is that it does not, for four reasons.
- A third-country company can only ever be a producer under points (c) or (d), because points (a), (b) and (e) all require establishment in a member state. If sentence one already bound them, sentence two would add literally nothing.
- Recital 123 separates the two cases explicitly, treating the cross-border EU producer as an obligation and the third-country producer as something member states should be able to require.
- Article 3(1)(20) grounds the role in Article 8a(5) of the Waste Framework Directive, which deals with producers established in another member state. Third countries do not appear there.
- The European Commission reads it this way itself. In its December 2025 proposal to suspend Article 45(3), the provision it describes as suspendable is the obligation for producers established in the Union, while the member state option for third-country producers is expressly left in place.
For most sellers this distinction turns out to be academic, because the large markets have used the option. But it matters when you are deciding where to spend money first, and it matters when a provider tells you that you are legally obliged to buy something in a country that has not actually required it.
5. Which one applies to you
Four common situations.
| Your situation | Article 17 | Article 45(3) |
| Established in the EU, selling cross-border to consumers in other member states | Not applicable, you are not a third-country manufacturer | Mandatory, one representative per country you sell into |
| Established outside the EU, selling to EU consumers | Optional, but see below | Depends on national law in each country |
| Established in the EU, selling only in your own country | Not applicable | Not needed, you are the producer and register yourself |
| Outside the EU, selling B2B to an EU importer who resells | Optional | Not applicable, your importer is the producer |
That second row is the one that catches people. If you are outside the EU and you appoint nobody under Article 17, the documentation burden lands on your importer or distributor. Increasingly they refuse to carry it, or they price it in, or they simply pick a supplier who has already arranged it. That is the practical reason our clients appoint a representative, not a legal obligation.
6. What member states are actually doing
The second sentence of Article 45(3) means the answer differs per country. Four examples where the position is clear.
Germany
Germany has used the option. The new Verpackungsrecht-Durchführungsgesetz mirrors both sentences of Article 45(3), and the explanatory memorandum states plainly that the opening clause is being used, with the aim of treating third-country and EU producers alike. Registration in LUCID itself stays a personal duty of the producer and is deliberately excluded from the mandate, so a representative can take on your EPR obligations but cannot register in your place.
This is worth knowing because it explains the message our client received. The German register is asking for the representative while marketplaces are still catching up. Do not wait for Amazon to ask.
France
France requires it too, and goes further than the PPWR. Law 2026-602 of 8 July 2026, in force since 10 July, obliges every producer established outside French territory, whether in another member state or in a third country, to appoint an authorised representative in France. It applies across all extended producer responsibility streams, not only packaging.
Spain
Spain already required this before the PPWR existed. Article 17.2 of Royal Decree 1055/2022 obliges producers established in another member state or in a third country to appoint an authorised representative, with subsidiary liability falling on the e-commerce platform or the first distributor if nobody is appointed. Nothing changed for Spain on 12 August.
The Netherlands
We could not find a Dutch bill or consultation that uses the option for third-country producers. That does not mean it will not come, but as things stand today the Dutch position is simply not settled. If a provider tells you the Netherlands requires a representative from a Chinese manufacturer, ask them which provision they are relying on.
Not sure which registrations you already need? Tell us what you sell and which countries you ship to, and we will tell you which of these apply and which you can skip. No charge for the assessment, and we will say so if you do not need us.
7. The postponement that did not happen
You may have read that Article 45(3) is being postponed. A proposal exists, but it has not been adopted, and it would not have helped non-EU sellers anyway.
On 10 December 2025 the European Commission published COM(2025) 982, part of the Environmental Omnibus package. Its Article 2 proposed suspending the application of Article 45(3) until 1 January 2035.
It did not get through. The Council presidency informed COREPER on 22 April 2026 that negotiations would be discontinued given strong reservations from an overwhelming majority of member states, and when the Council adopted its negotiating mandate on 24 June 2026 it covered the other files in the package and not this one. In the European Parliament the file sits with the ENVI committee, with an indicative plenary date of 5 October 2026.
So as of today, Article 45(3) applies in full. And it is worth reading recital 8 of that proposal carefully: the suspension was aimed at the obligation for producers established in the Union. The member state option for third-country producers was to remain in place. Non-EU sellers were never in line for relief.
8. What to do this month
A practical sequence, in the order we would run it.
- List the countries where you make packaging available to end users for the first time. Not where you have customers, but where you are the first to put the packaging on that market. With Pan-European FBA this is usually more countries than sellers expect, because stock moves.
- Check whether you are established in the EU. If yes and you sell cross-border to consumers, Article 45(3) sentence one applies directly and you need a representative in each of those countries.
- If you are outside the EU, check the national position country by country. Germany, France and Spain require it. For the rest, ask for the provision, not the opinion.
- Register in the national register of each country, or have your representative do it where national law allows. Without registration you may not make packaging available at all, under Article 44(4).
- Separately, decide on Article 17. If your EU importer is refusing to hold your documentation, or you want to stay the party authorities talk to, appoint a representative. One mandate covers all 27.
- Check your marketplace fields. Under Article 45(4) online platforms have to obtain self-certification that the EPR requirements are met in the consumer's member state, so the marketplace will ask sooner or later.
Conclusion
Three things worth remembering. The PPWR uses one term for two roles, and mixing them up costs money in the wrong country. Article 17 is optional and EU-wide, and the reason to use it is commercial rather than legal: it keeps your documentation burden off your importer. Article 45(3) is the one with teeth, it is per country, and for EU-established cross-border sellers it applies directly with no national law required.
If you are not sure which category you are in, that is a fifteen minute conversation rather than a project. Send us what you sell and where it ships, and we will map it out.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste, Articles 3, 15, 17, 18, 44, 45 and 71.
- Directive 2008/98/EC on waste, Article 8a(5), as inserted by Directive (EU) 2018/851.
- European Commission, COM(2025) 982 final, 10 December 2025, Environmental Omnibus proposal.
- Council of the European Union, document ST 10777/26, 19 June 2026.
- European Parliament, procedure file 2025/0395(COD), ENVI committee.
- Verpackungsrecht-Durchführungsgesetz, Bundestag Drucksache 21/5346, 15 April 2026.
- Loi n° 2026-602 du 8 juillet 2026, France.
- Real Decreto 1055/2022, Article 17.2, Boletín Oficial del Estado.
