The European parliament and EU member states must quickly agree on easing extended producer responsibility (EPR) obligations for small and online businesses under the bloc's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), German centre-right lawmakers said.
The EU parliament and governments must now agree a final legal text before any changes to EPR obligations can enter into force. The parliament adopted a proposed amendment to the PPWR on 20 October that would suspend EPR obligations for "microenterprises or small enterprises" until 1 January 2035, or until the application of an EU law establishing a horizontal EPR framework.
The European Commission has also proposed suspending EPR obligations for batteries and waste batteries.
"Small firms can no longer sell their products in other EU member states because of disproportionate rules and high costs," said Peter Liese, environment policy spokesperson for the European People's Party (EPP), the parliament's largest political group.
Liese said the parliament and EU member states have now both laid the groundwork for a solution.
The PPWR requires companies making cross-border sales in other EU member states to appoint an authorised representative for EPR compliance. Liese said the requirement has made selling into other EU countries economically "hardly possible" for some businesses.
EU member states agreed on 21 October to suspend the EPR requirement until 1 January 2032 for producers placing less than 1t of packaging on the market annually in a given member state. As in the commission's proposal, the suspension would apply to all EU producers, regardless of size, as well as battery producers.
Oliver Schenk, an EPP member of the parliament's environment committee, said the council's 1t threshold may not go far enough, noting that Germany had proposed a threshold of 10t.
"The differing positions of the council and parliament must not now lead to a new blockage," Schenk said.
An EU official expects negotiations on the final legal text to begin later in November.
