EU Parliament backs EPR representative exemption for small firms

EU Parliament rapporteur Ingeborg ter Laak’s position won support from 612 MEPs for an extended producer responsibility exemption, with eight opposed and 39 abstentions. The position would exempt qualifying small EU businesses from appointing an authorised representative in each member state where they sell products. It does not remove their wider producer responsibility for managing product waste.

What changes, and why did Parliament back it?

Companies currently selling products across multiple EU countries must appoint an authorised representative in each member state to manage extended producer responsibility (EPR) compliance, including financial contributions toward handling product waste. Parliament’s position instead covers all EU-based businesses with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet below €10m.

Rapporteur Ingeborg ter Laak said: “For European companies to be able to grow and sell, unnecessary administrative burdens should be reduced without compromising our environmental ambitions. It is clear that companies should take responsibility for the waste they produce, and that products need to be collected and recycled properly.”

She also said: “We should reach these goals without creating unnecessary obstacles for the businesses we want to see succeed in Europe. We can show that environmental responsibilities can go hand in hand with economic opportunities.”

Small textile and footwear producers sit inside the change, alongside businesses selling packaging, electronics and single-use plastic products. The European Commission had initially proposed sector-specific suspensions of the representative requirement, but Parliament backed a broader threshold tied to company size and financial scale.

The change targets administration, not the obligation to pay for waste handling. Waste-prevention duties and payment of relevant fees remain in place. For small suppliers, the authorised-representative requirement is the only exemption; waste collection and prevention responsibilities stay.

What happens before the law takes effect?

Her comments frame the vote as a trade-off between lower administrative friction and unchanged environmental accountability. Parliament has now put its position into Council negotiations, but the measure still needs Council and Commission agreement before it enters force.

The exemption would last until 2035, or until new circular-economy legislation is introduced. Trilogue negotiations with the Council and Commission will determine the final details of laws affecting waste regulation for textiles, footwear, single-use plastics and other categories.

MEPs also called for better information sharing between member states, interoperable digital systems and harmonised reporting requirements. Parliament said these reforms should make single-market operations smoother.

The proposal sits within the Environmental Omnibus, which aims to simplify environmental regulation while maintaining EU standards on health and sustainability. The package also covers industrial emissions, the circular economy, environmental assessments and geospatial data.

What should suppliers do now?

Nothing in the vote displaces the current authorised-representative requirement before an amended law takes effect. EU brands and importers selling in more than one member state should continue checking each market for a representative, while assessing their headcount, turnover and balance sheet against the proposed threshold and keeping evidence of EPR fee payments and waste-prevention controls.

That preparation matters because the final legislation could change both administration and environmental compliance across the single market. For sourcing teams, the immediate decision is whether a business is small enough to claim the future exemption.

Compliance teams must continue meeting fee, collection and waste-prevention duties. Until Parliament, the Council and Commission settle the text, businesses selling in multiple member states must keep their authorised representatives and relevant EPR fees funded.