# The Commission says relief is coming for authorised representatives. It is a proposal, and it is narrower than it sounds

Source: https://euornot.eu/commission-authorised-representative-suspension/
Published: 2026-08-14
Section: Packaging & EPR
Tags: ppwr, epr, packaging, authorised-representative, simplification, cross-border
Licence: CC BY 4.0 — attribute euornot.eu

Summary: Replying to angry small sellers on Instagram, the Commission points to its December 2025 proposal to suspend the authorised representative obligation until 2035. The proposal is real, still in committee, and covers producers established in the EU — not sellers outside it.

Key dates:
- 10 Dec 2025: Commission proposes suspension, COM(2025) 982
- 12 Aug 2026: Article 45(3) applies, unchanged
- 5 Oct 2026: Indicative first-reading plenary date
- 1 Jan 2035: Proposed end of the suspension

Two days after [PPWR started to apply](/ppwr-eu-2025-40-applies-today/), the European
Commission has been replying to small businesses in its Instagram comments. The wording is
unusually direct: "To all small businesses concerned about the new EU packaging rules — we
hear you, and we are here to support!" It goes on to say the Commission asked Parliament
and member states "to stop the obligation to appoint Authorised Representatives for EU
companies shipping goods to other EU countries", that the legal proposal was made in
December 2025, and that it "now needs the agreement of EU lawmakers".

The proposal is real. Read against the file, though, three qualifications matter more than
the reassurance.

## What was actually proposed

COM(2025) 982 final, of 10 December 2025, is a proposal for a Regulation "suspending the
application of the rules on the appointment of an authorised representative for extended
producer responsibility for batteries and waste batteries and packaging and packaging
waste" — part of the environmental omnibus. Article 2 suspends Article 45(3) of Regulation
(EU) 2025/40 until January 2035. Article 1 does the same for Article 56(3) of the Batteries
Regulation.

Article 45(3) is the provision that requires a producer not established in a destination
member state to appoint an authorised representative for EPR there, by written mandate, one
per member state. It is the clause that turns selling into ten countries into ten mandates.

## It is not law, and it applies today

The file is 2025/0395(COD). Parliament's Legislative Observatory records the committee
referral on 9 February 2026, a draft report in ENVI in May 2026 — the document itself is
dated 28 May — amendments tabled on 1 July 2026, and an indicative first-reading plenary date of 5 October 2026. The status is
"awaiting committee decision".

Nothing in Article 45(3) is suspended in the meantime. It began to apply on 12 August 2026
along with the rest of the Regulation, and a proposal to suspend a provision has no legal
effect on that provision while it is pending. A seller who reads the Commission's comment as
permission to stop appointing representatives is relying on a text that does not yet exist.

## The relief stops at the EU border

This is the qualification the Instagram replies handle loosely. One of them describes the
change as being for "EU companies shipping goods to other EU countries", which is accurate.
The other simply says "our companies, big and small".

The proposal is explicit. It "would provide additional flexibility by allowing producers
established in the Union and selling products in another Member State to choose whether they
appoint an authorised representative for EPR", and then states that provisions for producers
based in third countries "should remain as they currently are contained in sectoral
legislation".

So a French seller shipping to Germany would gain a choice. A British, Turkish, Swiss or
American seller shipping into the EU would gain nothing at all. For readers of this site,
that distinction is the whole story: the group facing the highest per-parcel compliance cost
is the group the suspension does not reach.

Parliament's draft report narrows it further, and in one respect tightens it. PE788.916, of
28 May 2026, proposes three changes that matter here:

- **Micro and small enterprises only.** A new paragraph would provide that the Regulation
  "shall apply only to producers qualifying as 'microenterprises' or 'small enterprises'
  within the meaning of Annex I to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC" — under that
  Recommendation, fewer than 50 staff and turnover or balance sheet total of €10 million or
  less, with micro set at fewer than 10 staff and €2 million. Medium-sized and large
  producers would keep the mandate. The rapporteur's justification is that they are "better
  equipped to comply".
- **An earlier end than 2035.** The suspension would run to 1 January 2035 "or the entry into
  force of the [circular economy act]", whichever is earlier, and a new article would end it
  on the date the Circular Economy Act applies.
- **Less flexibility on third-country producers, not more.** The Commission's text let member
  states either require an authorised representative from third-country producers or ensure
  traceability "through alternative means". The draft report deletes that option outright, to
  preserve "the mandatory appointment of an authorised representative for producers
  established in third countries in order to ensure effective traceability and enforcement".

This is a draft report, not a committee position: amendments were tabled on 1 July 2026 and
ENVI has not voted. But the direction of travel in Parliament is towards a narrower
exemption, and specifically towards keeping non-EU sellers exactly where they are.

## Enforcement discretion is not a defence

The Commission also says it "suggested to national authorities to avoid sanctioning
non-compliant companies, but rather give them a warning". That is worth knowing, and it is
worth not over-reading. Enforcement of EPR is a national competence exercised by national
registers and authorities; a suggestion from the Commission neither amends Article 44 nor
binds a member state that decides to enforce. Article 44 still makes an unregistered
making-available unlawful, and marketplaces still have to check registration before listing,
which is where most small sellers meet the rule in practice.

## The pressure behind it

A [change.org petition](https://www.change.org/p/stop-destroying-eu-micro-businesses-immediate-moratorium-on-cross-border-epr-fees)
started by Jeanette Koňarčíková, an independent artist in Slovakia, had 59,709 signatures as
at 14 August 2026. It asks for an immediate moratorium on cross-border registration and
representative fees for micro-businesses, an EU-wide de minimis threshold below which
small-volume sellers are exempt, and a genuine one-stop shop so a sole trader registers once
rather than 27 times. It is a campaign rather than a legal instrument, and it is not the
petition procedure under Article 227 TFEU, which is filed with Parliament and produces a
formal reply.

The Commission's own call for evidence on environmental simplification, open from 22 July to
10 September 2025, drew 190,998 contributions, of which 189,751 — 99.3% — came from citizens
rather than organisations. Whatever else the omnibus is, it is a response to volume of
complaint.

## What to do while it is pending

- **Comply with Article 45(3) as it stands.** Mandates in each destination member state where
  you are not established, and registration under Article 44 before the first shipment.
- **If you are established in the EU, track 2025/0395(COD) rather than the press.** The
  ENVI vote, not the Commission's messaging, decides whether the mandate becomes optional and
  for whom.
- **If you are established outside the EU, plan on no change.** Nothing currently on the
  table alters your position, and the transitional flat duty and Data Hub timetables continue
  independently.

## Sources

- COM(2025) 982 final — Proposal suspending the rules on appointing an authorised representative for EPR, 10 December 2025: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A52025PC0982 — Article 2 suspends Article 45(3) PPWR; explanatory memorandum, p. 2, on third-country producers
- Procedure file 2025/0395(COD), European Parliament Legislative Observatory: https://oeil.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/en/procedure-file?reference=2025%2F0395%28COD%29 — ENVI, rapporteur Ingeborg ter Laak; draft report listed 22 May 2026, amendments 1 July 2026
- ENVI draft report PE788.916v01-00, 28 May 2026, rapporteur Ingeborg Ter Laak: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/ENVI-PR-788916_EN.html — amendments 10 and 13 limit it to micro and small enterprises; 11 and 14 delete the third-country flexibility; 16 ends it with the Circular Economy Act
- Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste, OJ L, 22.1.2025: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/40/oj — Article 45(3), the obligation at issue
- European Commission, replies to small businesses on Instagram, 14 August 2026: https://www.instagram.com/europeancommission — official verified account; the quotations are from pinned replies in comment threads, which carry no stable permalink — screenshots on file
- Petition — Stop destroying EU micro-businesses: immediate moratorium on cross-border EPR fees: https://www.change.org/p/stop-destroying-eu-micro-businesses-immediate-moratorium-on-cross-border-epr-fees — campaign, not a legal instrument; signature count as at 14 August 2026